Pyro
by NHunter
Summary: Naruto/Tayuya, Naruto/Tayuya/mortal-C.C. story... Code Geass fusion, geass Naruto, AU, OOC, future lemons, elements from NGE and various computer games. summary inside.
1. Prologue

_**AN**_: as was promissed. This is my Naruto/Tayuya story, Naruto-Code Geass crossover...

**Summary**: When Naruto was cornered during one of 'demon hunts', he was saved by mysterious green-haired girl. She formed contract with him, giving him the power of the King. Now Naruto will have to grant her one wish...

**Title**: Pyro**  
Author**: NHunter aka N.H. aka 夜狩猟家 aka 灰色天使**  
Genre**: Adventure, some Romance**  
Pairing**: Naruto/Tayuya, Naruto/Tayuya/mortal-C.C.**  
Rating**: M = NC-17**  
Warnings**: AU, OOC, **_Code Geass_** fusion, future lemons, female not-so-evil Kyuubi, will contain certain elements from **_Neon Genesis Evangelion_** anime, **_StarCraft_**, **_Heroes of M&M III_**, **_Heroes of M&M V_** and **_Half-Life I_** games...**  
Disclaimer**: I DO NOT own **_Naruto_** or its characters. Nor do I own anything from **_Code Geass_** or any of aforementioned anime/games.

"speaking"_  
'thinking'_**  
**_messages_**  
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus"_  
'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

**Pyro  
Prologue**

It was late evening in the Konohagakura no Sato. One Uzumaki Naruto, ten years old blue-eyed blond boy, wearing dirty ragged black T-shirt with fire sign on the bag and orange pants, also dirty and ragged, was running for his life. Why? Simple, several drunk civilians decided to play 'demon hunt' and two older generation genins and one chuunin joined the hunt. And Naruto was the prey... He took another turn and stopped in despair - this was dead end...

"Finally... We caught it..." Said one of drunks, trying to catch his breath.

"It killed our families! We must kill it!" Another one said.

"Yeah! Let's finish what Yondaime started!" Shouted one of two genins. And beating began... While ninja stood on guard, civilian part of the mob began beating Naruto up with legs, empty beer bottles and plankings that could be found in the deadend. Naruto tried to protect himself, but adults still caused him a lot of pain, bruiced his body and broke several ribs... What it seemed eternity later, chuunin commanded to the mob:

"Everybody back. I will kill the demon." He summoned big blade from the scroll and others complied, not wanting to be wounded or killed, as chuunin only cared about what will happen to the 'demon' at the moment. Naruto looked at chuunin and then closed his eyes, preparing himself for the death... But instead of blade piercing his heart, he felt it only scratching his stomach. And something warm dripping on his left hand. Opening his eyes and was shocked. In front of him was girl of about sixteen-seventeen with green hair made in a single braid. She was wearing dark blue T-shirt, now soaked with her blood, and a black mini-skirt. And the blade that must have killed him was piercing her chest and her heart.

"Why... Why?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Stupid bitch!" Chuunin cursed. "I will burn you to ashes!!!" He yelled, jumping back, and flashed through handseals. Once again preparing to die, Naruto felt a grip on his hand. Looking down in surprise, he saw that it was green-haired girl whose hand was on his. "**Katon: goukakyuu!**" Naruto saw fireball and then his world shattered.

* * *

Naruto found himself in a sky-blue with white leaks and lightning-shaped stripes world. He was slowly floating through this space... Then he heard a voice. Female, musical voice...

"You don't want it to end like this, do you, young one?.." Suddenly white feathers appeared out of nowhere, forming a sphere of fifteen feet in diameter. "You have a reason to need to continue to live..." Sphere of feathers was blown away, revealing the very same green-haired girl that saved him from being pierced by chuunin's blade, only there she was naked. Blushing dark red, young boy moved his eyes up to her face and tried to keep them there... Girl had pretty face, though different from any he had seen before, and deep amber eyes, that kept a lot of wisdom and... pain? "Is it if you have power, you can live?.. This is the contract. I'll give you power. I return you only have to grant my one wish." Naruto listened as this strange girl was explaining this contract thing... "Once contract is created, although you will live in humanity, but you will live following a different set of morals than people. A different fate. A different life. The power of the King will make you lonely... Most probably... If you have such resolution..."

"Resolution... I don't want to die, but what is your wish?" Young jinchuuriki asked.

"I can't tell you this yet." Green-haired girl answered.

"Will it harm me? Or Hokage-jiji? Or anybody else?" Girl wasn't expecting such question, that's for sure, but seemed to be only mildly shocked.

"Worry not, young one. My wish will not cause any pain to those precious to you." Naruto nodded.

"Then I'm in! Let's form this contract!" He shouted.

"Take my hand then, young one." Naruto did what she asked and as soon as their hands touched, world around them changed into darker space, filled with gigantic and outright enormous cow wheels of different forms and red and white masks. "Contract is formed. The power of the King, you have it now..." And world shattered around Naruto...

* * *

Naruto returned to the real world and saw that the fireball covered less than meter while he was entering into the contract. He had some kind of power now, but he didn't know what was this power or how he could activate it.

_ 'Somebody... Something... please... save us!'_ Suddenly Naruto's left eye turned purple with red 'bird' on the iris. Immediately fireball slowed down and started changing into two and a half meter high humanoid shaped... something. This was the last thing Naruto saw before his world went dark. Fire beast stopped in front of Naruto and green-haired girl and turned around.

**_'This hairless ape has pyrokinesis, something that even I, demon of fire, wasn't given? Maybe, just maybe, he isn't as bad as I thought...'_** Certain demon thought in the dark depths of blond boy's subconscious.

"What is this? What have you done, demon?" Chuunin asked with both fear and infuriation in his voice. Fire beast exhaled weak stream of fire at the mob, then picked up both unconscious Naruto and the girl, before leaping on the roofs and dropping from sight. Moment later Hokage and several ANBU appeared in the deadend... Not a minute later every last man in the mob was dead.

*******

Blond boy opened his eyes and sat up. He was in the hospital.

"Naruto, you are OK. Thank Gods!" Said old man, Hokage, who was sitting on the chair near his bed. "I was so worried when we couldn't find you in that street... Luckily one of ANBU teams found you outside village walls half an hour after the accident. I'm sorry, Naruto, I again couldn't protect you."

"Don't worry, Jiji, You know that I won't die until I take your hat!" Young boy exclaimed. "But what happened to that girl?"

"Which girl?" Hokage asked, a bit surprised by boy's question. "When ANBU found you, you were alone." Then he remembered something. "Oh, this was found by your side." He gave small folded paper to Naruto. Boy opened it and read.

_Don't worry about me, we will definitely meet again.  
P.S. Don't let the power become stronger than your will.  
P.P.S. You're cute._

Naruto blushed heavily as he saw girl's lips' imprint in the corner of the paper. Things will be very interesting from now on...

* * *

_**AN**_ (again): I **NEED** BETA (mostly to correct missed articles mistakes) !!! For this story, and for other that I wrote. If you think you can help me, PM me. (you need to be OK with: M-rated stories, lemons, my paragraph-formation style and my crazy ideas... And to be literate, of course.)


	2. First steps

Hello, everyone, here we go, "**_Pyro_**", chapter 1!

**everybody**, thanks for reading and reviewing my story! And special thanks to **Skelo** for beta-reading THIS chapter!  
**Striader5, **I don't know right now what C.C. will be, but she wan't appear in the story for a long time anyway.

**Important note**: I know that this chapter ... khm... **IS NOT** good. But I needed it this way, so it will be this way.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto, Code Geass, Neon Genesis Evangelion, StarCraft, HoMM 3, HoMM5, Half-Life I or anything from aforementioned anime and games.

"speaking"_  
'thinking'_**  
**_messages_**  
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Iruka's demon head jutsu"_  
'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

**Pyro  
chapter 1: first steps**

Eleven years old Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha. He just finished yet another training session, trying to activate that gift he received almost year ago. Not once was he able to use pyrokinesis - ability to control fire with your will, somehow he knew what his power was, he tried almost any idea that decided to grace his head with its visit; and failed every time. But he too stubborn to give up, thinking that he couldn't achieve his dream and become Hokage if he couldn't master, or at least unlock, his own strength...

Naruto neared market place when an explosion went off. A single shadow darted from the site, a terrorist obviously. Naruto peeked from the corner and saw that several tents were on fire and were lying across the road, preventing people from leaving this small Hell. And some of those people were his classmates.

_ 'I needed to save them!' _If he didn't do this, then by whom will he be praised for his successful pranks…? Yes, he definitely needed to save them!_ 'Maybe then Sakura-chan will acknowledge me! And others too.' _As soon as these thoughts were formed within his mind, Naruto felt something warm in his left eye. If he could see himself right now, he'd notice that said left eye's iris turned purple and red 'bird' appeared on it. One more moment later Naruto felt fire on those tents. It was hot, hostile and... It was like wild animal, predator. But at the same time it felt like that fire was a part of him. Strange feeling, but the young jinchuuriki paid no attention to that. He stretched his right arm out, as if trying to reach for the fire, at the same time using all his will to put out the fire. Or at least make it move away and allow people escape. "Go away! Please, go away!" Naruto whispered. The fire moved a little as if turning its attention to the blond. Naruto concentrated more, comfortable warm feeling in his left eye now replaced with slight pain, but he didn't care: he needed to save those people and for once be hero and not a 'demon-brat'! "Go away from them!" He shouted more forcefully. Fire, acting like it had some twisted mind, advanced to the young jinchuuriki a bit, seeing him as interesting new prey. Naruto concentrated even more, trying to move fire away from the people and allow them to escape market place - somehow no one other than him seemed to have any interest in what will happen to people who were there... Naruto absently noticing something warm on his left cheek. _'Blood...'_ He thought as he could now taste metallic tasting red liquid on his lips. He really didn't care what will happen to him if could become a hero. Like feeling this, fire advanced faster in his direction, until it embraced blond boy with its hot burning embrace... Naruto blackened out there...

* * *

Naruto awoke from sharp pain right under his ribs. Then there was another spark of pain, right next to the first. Naruto absently noted that his clothes were gone, burned down to ashes, and his body was covered with second and third degree burns...

"This demon tried to burn us alive!" Someone, woman, judging by the voice, shouted. Several other people yelled in agreement. "Too bad for you, even fire know justice!" Then there were some whispers, too quiet to be understandable for him. Several seconds later Naruto felt something rather small, yet not very light, step on his face. Repeatedly. Succeeding only in breaking his nose. "No, no, no, you are doing it all wrong, dear." Woman said in almost normal voice. Blond decided to see what was going on, but immediately regretted this. First, as soon as he opened his eyes, he felt incredible pain his left one, and there was no power left in it. And second, he saw Sakura, his Sakura-chan, being lifted from him - it was her, who stooping on his face. "Look. You must do it like this." Woman, Sakura's mother, most probably, stepped on blonds face, dislocating and braking his jaw and knocking out almost all of his teeth. This was not counting broken ribs, arms and legs courtesy of others beating him... Then Naruto blackened out again...

*******

Naruto woke up. And he really didn't like the place where he woke up. Hell, it was worse than the Hospital! He was in some kind of a sewer. Dark, with dim blood-red lights. Dirty walls with dents and webs of cracks everywhere. Naruto really didn't understand, how this sewer hadn't collapsed yet. Then there were rusty pipes anchored to those walls, looking like they'll turn into the dust if you just touch them. And all this had patches of dirty-green mold here and there, sometimes hanging like beards from the low ceiling. Finally, there were almost two feet of muddy water on the floor with random staff like broken crates or old door, like the one Naruto was lying on, floating in it. Yes, he most definitely didn't like this place!

Then Naruto noticed his condition: He was in perfect health. Something that even with his regenerative abilities seemed to be next to impossible, judging from memories he had - without some sort of nutrition his body wouldn't heal, and he hadn't eaten well for days.

Blond boy decided to get the hell out of this sewer as soon as possible. But this soon was proved to be extremely hard, if even possible, task: this sewer seemed to be endless!

After what seemed to be eternity, Naruto came across ridiculously large chamber. Like any other part of the sewer it had dim blood-red light, produced by giant seal on the floor, but hall was so enormous, that young boy couldn't see ceiling. But was the strangest part of this chamber was someone, right now Naruto could see only silhouette, chained in the center of the seal. Four chains were for silhouette's arms and legs. Other four were attached to metallic collar which had kanji for "seal" on it, glowing with dim red light. All eight chains had their other ends at eight stone pillars, that surrounded the seal on the floor. And all these chains were covered with that dirty-green mold, like anything else there...

"**And I started to think that my jailer will never pay me visit...**" Silhouette spoke in feminine voice, quiet nice and melodic for someone who spent God-knows-how-much time in this Hell. And then she raised her head a bit, opening her eyes. Naruto unintentionally stepped back. Those eyes had blood-red iris with slitted pupil, eyes of a beast, yet they had tons of emotions, ranging from fury and hate to submission and ...regret? "**Well, at least I still can frighten someone...**" Silhouette tried to chuckle.

"W-Who are you?" Naruto asked the woman. This time she actually produced something like a chuckle.

"**Oh, yeah, already forgot, you can't remember me...**" Silhouette tried to move, but failed under the weight of the chains. "**Once I was great and mighty... I could level mountains and split the earth whenever I wanted... Once I was what you, humans called Kyuubi no Yoko... But for the last eleven years... I don't know, what I am anymore...**" While blond boy was really shocked to see mighty Kyuubi chained in some sewer, he still noticed several tears running from demon's eyes. Or was she really a demon? Demons were supposed to be soulless machines of destruction, but how can someone cry without having a soul?

"And I'm..." Naruto started, but was interrupted.

"**Don't bother, I know who you are... After all, you are my prison and my jailer.**" Kyuubi replied.

"So... Where are we?" Blond asked.

"**This is your subconscious.**" Woman answered. "**World, created from what you have on your soul.**" Naruto though for a second... Once you go past his always smiling and happy-go-lucky mask, he truly was like this: depressed, sad, lonely, and now, after the last attack on his life, he was devastated...

"And why am I here?" He asked.

"**You were almost killed by those ...monsters that call themselves humans.**" Kyuubi expected Naruto to say something in their defense, and was somewhat happy when he didn't. "**Because of that, you are here. You can be here only when you're either dying or in grave danger.**" Demoness said. "**...Unless, you receive special training. Then you'll be able to come here when you want...**" She added then. There was silence for some time.

"So... You are Kyuubi no Yoko, the very same demon that almost destroyed the village and made Yondaime sacrifice himself? And because you are inside me, my life was damn hell?!" Naruto almost yelled the last part. Woman nodded and lowered her head. The answer was too obvious in her opinion. "Then why? Why did Yondaime seal you in me? Because I'm just some nameless orphan?!" This time Kyuubi decided to answer with words.

"**When I saw that Hokage appear on the battlefield with infant in his arms, I understood what he wanted to do. I too asked why he chose you, as I suspected something. He gave me the answer. That day he became second human I ever respected. But I won't tell you what he said to me as it may completely crash you. You are wrong though, you weren't orphan at that time. Who your parents were you shall find on your own. Just remember that sometimes thing are hidden in the plain sight.**" Naruto nodded.

"And one last question... WHY IN THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU ATTACK KONOHA?!" Blond yelled. Kyuubi only sighed tiredly.

"**I was controlled. Those stupid eyes of sharingan turned me into brainless destroyer.**" Something was telling Naruto that those words from demoness weren't lies... There was another long silence... "**There was something wrong with that attack. And the whole market place thing...**" Woman said. Naruto gave her puzzled look. "**Those people 'caught' by the fire inside market place were too calm. And then there were no firemen at all. It's almost like they wanted you to come there and give them reason to kill you, or me, as they might have been thinking.**" Now blond boy was deep in his thoughts. Kyuubi was right: there were no firemen there, though fire station was only two blocks away. It was like someone really wanted a reason to kill him and decided to create one...

"You might be right. But what should I do then?"

"**I'd suggest you leaving this village as soon as you can walk, but knowing you for all these years... You won't accept this. Plus, even if you do run away, there will be big hunt for your head, that's for sure.**" Demoness spoke. "**So there are two more options: either you hide all the time or you're becoming so strong that they won't dare to attack you.**" Woman winced when Naruto shouted that he will become strong. "As I thought..." She tried to move again, and again chains proved to be too heavy to do that...

"But who will teach me then? Everyone, other than old man, hate me. And Jiji is too busy to train me." Blond asked.

"**Just look around.**" Kyuubi said, trying to move again, this time succeeding a little. Naruto did just that, but, of course, saw no body there, other than himself and female demon. "**I may be bound by this stupid seal, but I still have millenniums worth of knowledge.**"

"You will train me?" Blond boy asked in surprise.

"**I'm not ready to leave this plane of existence just yet. I'm not ready to die and if I have to train you to survive several more decades, than I will.**" Naruto nodded.

*******

Today was a rare day, when everybody in Iruka's classroom was happy. Even Iruka himself. Children were happy because of grand, even if well hidden from Hokage's eyes, festival for putting Naruto in hospital forever week ago. Their teacher was happy as now no one will prank him or others during lesson time...

"Hey, Ami." Ino spoke quietly. "I heard that your mother has friends at the hospital. Any news?"

"No, it is still alive." Purple haired bully answered. "But at least we are free from that plague for the rest of our lifes, isn't that wonderful?"

"**GIRLS!**" Iruka sounded angry. Very angry. "**KEEP IT QUIET!**" Well... Man himself was neutral to Naruto. He just didn't like the way boy tried to get some attention. Though he himself was goofing around at academy after his parents died eleven years ago on october tenth...

***** many days later... *****

Naruto finally opened his eyes. In the real world. Of course, he was in hospital. And while he knew that Kyuubi healed his body, he understood that it was still too early to leave this damn hospital - he was looking just skin and bone. He looked out of the window. It was late winter in Konoha... Well, the only difference from summer was altitude of the Sun... Yeah, now he could almost easily do things like this - while he still couldn't decide whether Kyuubi was evil or not, she for sure was both clever and wise... And it was more than four months that he was 'apprenticed' to the queen of bijuu...

"Can I come in, Naruto-kun?" Blond was snapped out of his thoughts about red-eyed demoness in his subconscious by Hokage's voice. Of course, blond boy said 'yes'. Aged man walked in the hospital room and sat heavily on the chair near Naruto's bed. "Naruto, my dear boy, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I couldn't protect you..." Sandaime spoke, but was interrupted by blond jinchuuriki.

"I know, Old man." Boy said with a smile... Or what he wanted to be a smile. "But tell me, was that attempt to kill me and was the justice served?" Hokage sighed uneasily.

"Yes and no, Naruto-kun. Those senile old fools in the council in their infinite wisdom tried to praise your attackers instead of punishing them... I'm so sorry..." Hokage paused. "Do you want revenge, Naruto-kun?"

"Even if I do want it, I won't." Blond boy replied. "After all I have living ...almost living proof that hatred can only create more hatred in me." Sarutobi Hiruzen needed several seconds to understand what Naruto was saying.

"I take it that you met your tenant?" Aged Hokage finally asked with some worry in his voice.

"She was rather nice to me." Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied cheerfully only multiplying old man's worries.

"Don't tell me you..."

"Don't worry old man, I'm not removing that seal anytime soon. I want to live..." Naruto said interrupting Hokage once again. "Besides, even if I do remove the seal, we both will die. True, Kyuubi will be reincarnated, but without her memories." Blond paused. "When will I be let out of the hospital, old man? And can I still become shinobi?"

"I don't know, when doctors will allow you to leave the hospital, but they expext full recovery. This means that if you pass the Genin exam, you'll become shinobi." Sarutobi said with a smile. They talked a little more, before old man had to return to his paperwork-built doom...

*******

It was an early morning of last thursday of may. Exactly two weeks since Naruto was allowed to leave the hospital. And right now said blond was walking towards the Hokage building for something to make sure he'll be allowed to take his Genin exams. He was walking from one of secluded training grounds - earlier in the morning he tried again to activate his pyrokinesis ability, once again failing there, and then practiced two academy level ninjutsus he could do: kawarimi and henge; simple bushing was still out of his reach, even if his chakra control improved greatly, thanks to Kyuubi and her centuries of knowledge. Naruto also practiced simple katas for taijutsu style neither Kyuubi nor any book blond could get knew the name for. It was offensive fighting style built around fast and unpredictable attacks. Of course, Naruto was taught advanced katas too by red-eyed demoness, but his body wasn't ready for them yet...

Naruto entered Hokage's office through the window, as he knew that Sandaime's secretary will never allow him in if she saw him. So blond boy had to use other ways to get into old man's office, namely, window. Kyuubi jinchuuriki once again thanked the demoness for teaching him 'tree climbing' exercise.

"Good morning, old man!" Blond said cheerfully, making aged Hokage almost fall out of his chair with orange book in his hands.

"Morning. What do you need, Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi asked.

"Well... I'm not sure that they will allow me to enter today's exam that easy, so... Maybe you can give me some kind of paper so that I will definitely allowed to take the exam?"

"More paperwork..." Hokage sighed, but did as boy asked...

* * *

Naruto entered ninja academy building and immediately had to dodge fist coming from the principal. Before man, who apparently wanted him as far from academy as possible, could hit blond jinchuuriki, he was presented Hokage-signed papers. Not waiting for his reaction, Naruto walked in and not a minute later stood in front of Iruka's classroom. He knocked on the door and several seconds later scarred Chunin appeared.

"Naruto?" Man was clearly surprised to see blond for the first time in almost nine month. "You know, we'll have Genin exam started in several minutes."

"Yes, I know. That's why I'm here." Naruto replied, showing Iruka another paper from old man. Academy instructor read it.

"O-OK, then you may come in." He finally said. Two entered classroom and Naruto saw that it was already filled with students. He spotted Sakura's pink haired and had to suppress urge to make the girl bald. He most definitely didn't like her anymore... As soon as children saw blond jinchuuriki enter classroom, shouts 'Go to hell, bloody bastard!', 'Why didn't you die that day?!', 'Go away loser!', 'Who allowed this filthy demon to even enter the academy?!' and like that filled the air. Iruka had to use his demon head jutsu to make children shut the fuck up. Scarred Chunin made it clear that Naruto will take this exam and that other better have no problems with this.

"Oh, yeah, why not, really?" Sakura said sarcastically. "We are ninja and IT..." She pointed at Naruto. "...Is NOT. Of course, it will be able to use our arts! The d..." She was quickly shut up by blond's killing intent, killing intent that easily neared Jonin levels. Still restraining himself from attacking pink-haired banshee, this time it needed much more self-control, though, Naruto took one of a few empty seats at the back of the classroom...

* * *

After two hours long writing test given by Mizuki, another Chunin-academy teacher, where blond had to dispel pretty strong genjutsu over his paper, there was small brake before taijutsu part. Naruto wisely dropped from the sight for the brake and returned to the classroom only after the bell from the brake rang. After everybody was there, they were led to the academy training ground.

"OK, kids, now we will have target practice..." Iruka explained the rules for this part of the exam. Children one by one showed their skills in this area of ninja arts. And most of them did just decent. "Uchiha Sasuke, you're next." Scarred Chunin called. Sasuke walked to the line like he already was Genin, which, if even half of the info Naruto had on council, was true. Dark-haired boy threw kunai and shuriken hitting all targets with nine or ten points. "Very good, Sasuke, ninety four." All girls minus Hinata cheered Sasuke. And he, of course, ignored them. "Uzumaki Naruto." Blond jinchuuriki nodded and walked to the line. He picked five kunai and threw them one by one, hitting all the targets in eight and nine zones. Next were five shuriken which ended giving him nine or ten points each. "Ninety. Not bad."

* * *

"OK, everybody finished target practice part, so now we will have taijutsu exam." Mizuki said. "To pass this test you need to hold your ground against me for a minute and land at least three hits on me. Let's start." As Naruto observed others to fight, he began doubting that these kids were any good: only four or five out of thirty were any good at taijutsu - hell, even Kyuubi with all eight chains that kept her at bay could fight better!.. Sasuke just finished his 'fight' and walked to the sidelines, trying to dodge his fangirls at the same time. "Get here, Uzumaki!" Mizuki yelled.

"Hn..." Naruto sighed and walked into the circle. White-haired Chunin wasted no time and darted towards the blond in attempt to break his neck with the first hit. But Naruto sidestepped his attack, trying to land a hit on his sensei with his knee. Mizuki kawarimi'ed away and tried to use one of combos on the blond, but Naruto again dodged his attack and somehow appeared inside of his guard. Blond implanted his fist into Mizuki's gut, then hit Chunin's knee and palmed him on the chest, before jumping back to put some distance. White-haired Chunin roared in anger and attacked Naruto without really thinking, which made blond's work on dodging incoming hits much easier... Twenty minutes later heavy breathing Mizuki fell on his knees from physical exhaustion. Naruto was only winded a bit.

"...Looks like taijutsu part of the exam is finished..." Iruka said. "Come back to the classroom so that we can have genjutsu and ninjutsu parts of the exam."

* * *

More than three hours later it was finally Naruto's turn for last part of the exam. He entered small room and before he could react, he found himself sinking into bloody swamp with an army of skeletons stabbing his body with rusty weapons. Obviously genjutsu, though very strong one. Naruto felt Kyuubi's yokai flash form the seal, immediately dispelling the illusion, and came up to the table, where Mizuki, who was trying to kill him with his glare, and Iruka sat.

"Already dispelled my little illusion, huh?" White-haired man asked in disbelief.

"Genjutsu doesn't working on me anymore." Blond jinchuuriki replied coldly.

"OK, this means you only have to perform henge, kawarimi and bunshin now." Iruka said. "Transform into Shodai Hokage first." Naruto nodded and one poof of smoke later a perfect copy of Senju Hashirama in his red samurai armor was standing in the room. "Good, change into me now." Again there was poof of smoke and another Iruka was standing where First Hokage was moments ago. "OK, you can drop henge now." Naruto canceled jutsu. "Show us how you can perform Kawarimi." Blond jinchuuriki nodded and switched with a chair, which was on the opposite side of the room. Several seconds later he kawarimi'ed back. "And finally, you have to produce at least three decent clones."

"Um... OK..." Naruto prayed to all known Gods when he performed the jutsu... When white smoke was gone, there were only two clones, and one of them was half-dead.

"Sorry, but I can't pass you, Naruto. You fail." Scarred Chunin said. Mizuki smiled darkly...

*******

Naruto was lying on his futon in a small room. There was a knock on the door.

"Naruto-kun, Mizuki-san wants to see you." Uzuki Yugao said, peeking into the room. Yes, for the last two weeks Naruto was staying at her flat in ANBU apartment house - his home was burned to the ground on the same day he was sent into the hospital nine month ago.

"OK, let's see what he wants..." Naruto muttered under his breath as he walked out of the Yugao's apartment.

"Good evening, Naruto." Mizuki said in a strange, friendly tone. "I know that you are upset with failing the exam. But seeing that you were the only student, who failed and we didn't graduate enough, you get the second chance." Something wasn't right here and Naruto listened carefully to what the man said. "To pass this test you'll have to enter Hokage's vault, steal Forbidden scroll, escape unnoticed and learn one jutsu from it to pass this test and become Genin. Are you in?"

"Of course!" Blond jinchuuriki replied, trying to sound like he was fooled by Mizuki's words.

"Then meet me at training ground twenty one in three hours." White-haired Chunin said, before shunshin'ing away.

* * *

"Evening, old man!" Naruto said as he entered Hokage's office. Through the window, again. And again caught Sarutobi that smut in the orange cover.

"Yeah, good evening, Naruto-kun." Sandaime replied. "What brings you here this evening?"

"Well..." Naruto told him about how strange Mizuki was acting today and about 'steal-the-scroll exam'.

"OK, I see..." Old man sighed. "Looks like you are right. There is no such exam. And more, no Genin should be able to steal something from Hokage's vault. I'd say that he either wants you to die during this 'exam', or he will kill you once you 'complete' it and flee with the scroll."

"And what should we do then?" Hokage thought for several seconds before answering.

"If you're willing to take a risk, I'll give you a fake Forbidden scroll and show you hand seals for, let's say... Kage bunshin jutsu, you should be able to perform. I'll also organize fake search party for you. Those ANBU will never find you before the 'time' is up. It is possible that you'll have to fight Mizuki a bit, but there will be ANBU team watching." Naruto nodded.

"I'll take this risk." He said.

"Good. Once you complete this mission, B-rank, by the way, I'll promote you to Genin and give you B-rank payment." Blond nodded again. "So the hand seals are..."

*******

Naruto was sitting in the clearing at training ground twenty one. He was breathing heavily - he managed to create a dozen of kage bunshin flawlessly. But learning such a jutsu tired even him... Suddenly Iruka appeared in the clearing.

"What have you done, Naruto?! Why did you steal Forbidden scroll?!" Chunin yelled.

_'What should I do? Tell him the truth and trap Hokage set for Mizuki may fail, or lie and...'_ Blond jinchuuriki thought. "You see, sensei, Mizuki-sensei told me about extra test for Genin exam and I just completed it." He grinned. "Wanna see awesome jutsu I just learned?" Iruka sighed.

"Let's go to Hokage and, if you're lucky, you won't be punished very harshly. There ANBU after you, you know?" Before blond boy could answer, big shuriken flew into the clearing, having both Naruto and Iruka as its target. Scarred Chunin pushed Naruto aside and blocked shuriken with his kunai.

"So, you found our little Naruto-kun before me, Iruka?" Mizuki entered the clearing with sinister smile on his face and another fuuma shuriken in his hands. "Too bad for you... Naruto, give me the scroll." White-haired Chunin said forcefully.

"No, Naruto, don't give him the scroll!" Scarred man shouted, preparing himself to fight Mizuki.

"So, I only will kill you first..." Man said. "I thought, you wanted to see the one who killed your parents die. If you step back, I'll allow you to see Kyuubi die, before killing you."

"You. Will. Not. Harm. Naruto!" Iruka roared.

"Why are you protecting this scum, Iruka?" Mizuki asked. "It killed your parents! It caused everyone so much pain! It is the Kyuubi!!!" Man yelled, pointing at Naruto.

"In one thing you are right... traitor. Kyuubi caused everyone so much pain..." Scarred Chunin replied. Blond jinchuuriki felt his heart shattering into pieces - even Iruka hated him! "Naruto may be loud, he lacks manners and he is the number one prankster, but he IS NOT the Kyuubi!" Naruto looked at the man with shock written on his face.

"Then I just will kill you first, Iruka!" Mizuki shouted, throwing his shuriken at unprepared Iruka. Naruto jumped in front of scarred Chunin, blocking projectile with his kunai.

"I will not allow you to harm my sensei!" He said, before closing his eyes. When he opened that moment later, his left eye had purple iris with red 'bird' on it. His power, the geass... He finally activated it at will!

"What an irony! Demon protects the one whom he caused so much pain!" White-haired traitor laughed. "What DO YOU know about pain, Kyuubi?!"

"Unlike you all believe, I'm not Kyuubi, teme. Don't you think that if I were a demon, Konoha would be ruins right now? And believe me; Kyuubi knows what the pain is. Kyuubi said this to me when we met: 'I don't know what I am anymore. My soul was torn in two... I still feel what the other half feels. Believe me; you don't want to spend the rest of eternity in Shinigami-sama's stomach.'"

"Don't try to fool me, demon!" Mizuki charged with his kunai drawn. Naruto blocked his attack with his own kunai. Blond jinchuuriki saw sparks flying away from collided weapons. And he felt them. They were fire too. He could control them! Naruto picked single spark and poured his chakra into it through the geass. The spark turned into small fireball, hovering one meter over the ground. The fire felt different from what he remembered. This one was more like a familiar, it wanted to help him.

"W-What are you doing? Demon! Demon is here!!!" White-haired Chunin yelled.

"This, I think, is called pyrokinesis, Mizuki-teme." Naruto replied, pouring even more chakra into fireball, changing it into ten meters long Chinese dragon made of fire. He felt some blood under his left eye and pain there, but ignored it for now. Dragon charged at Mizuki and coiled around man, holding him in one place. ANBU squad shunshin'ed into the clearing.

"Thank you for catching the traitor for us, Uzumaki-san." Said ANBU with long purple hair and cat mask. Naruto nodded and let the dragon disappear. Then he suddenly felt extremely tired and blackened out...

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes. He was in Hokage's office. Blond jinchuuriki immediately sat up.

"Oh, you are awake, Naruto-kun." Old man said from behind of the paper-made pillar. "Congratulations, you just completed your first B-rank. I already sent money to your bank account. Come here, I'll give you your hitai-ite. You earned it."

"And what about Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"You sensei left about an hour ago. I told him that your power is previously unknown kekkei genkai, so there will be no questions... Oh, and he said that he expects you to at academy on Monday for team assignment." Sarutobi replied.

"What do you know about my power?" Blond boy asked with worry in his voice.

"It is called geass and manifests itself in your eyes; each person with geass has different powers and yours is pyrokinesis." Aged Hokage said. "Oh, and it was gifted to you by Gray witch, that girl with green hair you met more than a year ago."

"...How?" Naruto asked, not understanding, how did the old man know so much. More than he knew, actually.

"Girl was the clue." Hokage said with a smile. "Even if legends about the Gray witch are legends, they match reality in too many ways to consider them pure mythology." Sarutobi paused. "Don't worry. Only Iruka-san and I know about your power. And only I know that it is geass." Naruto sighed in relief, finally taking his hitai-ite from Hokage's hands and tying it on his forehead.

"Thank you, old man."

* * *

**well, R&R!**

next update date is unknown... university takes too much time...


	3. It couldn't be worse

*******review response**:  
**Bahumat knight**, **OBSERVER01**, thank you!  
**Fox-Sama**, **Hakkyou no Yami**, while there **will** be Naruto/fem-Kyuubi part, it will be only in the very end. And only once. Until then... she is just his sensei.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto, Code Geass, Neon Genesis Evangelion, StarCraft, HoMM 3, HoMM5, Half-Life I or anything from aforementioned anime and games.

"speaking"_  
'thinking'_**  
**_messages_**  
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Iruka's demon head jutsu"_  
'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

Thanks to **_Skelo_** for beta-reading this chapter**_.  
_**

****** Pyro  
chapter 2: It couldn't be worse**

Almost for two days straight, taking breaks only to replenish his chakra reserves and have a short nap, Naruto trained with his geass to find out boundaries of his ability. As he quickly found out, he couldn't start fire, not yet at least, but even single spark could be turned into fire blizzard with his pyrokinesis. Naruto found out that his power had a limited 'volume' of fire that he could control and even then there was a time limit for every certain 'volume'…

In order to take control over fire he needed to see it, but not necessarily with his geass - it just had to be active; this meant that he could use his pyrokinesis without showing geass eye to anyone... And also the fire started by him was easier to control than just a random fire, which was easier to control than a fire used in another jutsu. The last piece of knowledge led him to an understanding that he now needed to carry a source of fire with him all the time if he wanted to make a good use of his ability. Lighter could be a good solution to this problem, but there might be a problem if it suddenly runs out of fuel. He was ready to go into his subconscious to ask Kyuubi-sensei to teach him a simple fire jutsu when another idea visited his mind: seals! There definitely must be a seal that converts chakra into fire. And who was better to give him this seal than the Old man Hokage?

* * *

"Hey Old man!" The blond jinchuuriki shouted as he entered Hokage's office. Naruto remembered that he had to give several forms to the Hokage to be able to become genin so he combined his visit for the seal with bringing the papers to the village leader.

"Oh, hello, Naruto-kun," Sarutobi said from behind a pile of papers he was trying to defeat. "What can I do for you?"

"I brought the forms so that you can install me as a ninja!" The blond said excitably, passing his papers to the Hokage. "And I want to ask you something, Old man."

"What do you want to ask me, Naruto?" Sarutobi inquired.

"Well, there definitely must be a seal that turns chakra into fire. Can you give me this seal?" Naruto's request caught aged Hokage by surprise, but Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't known as the 'professor' for nothing. He quickly ran through his mental library of jutsu and seals, searching for what blond Genin-to-be was asking for.

"You are right, Naruto-kun; there is such a seal." Kyuubi container jumped happily. "I suppose, that you want it to complement your ...'ability'?" Naruto nodded. "You are lucky. It's actually quite a simple seal, so I can give it to you right now. Do you want it?" The blond boy nodded again. He quickly went to the Hokage's side and stretched out his right hand, showing his palm to the Old man."Can you place it here?"

Sarutobi nodded...

Just a little more than two minutes later Naruto had a kanji for fire, surrounded by several more intricate symbols, drawn on his palm. Sarutobi ran through three hand seals and touched the seal with one finger sending a surge of chakra into it. The seal flashed bright red for a second, before turning back to just a drawing in black ink.

"You can try it now, Naruto-kun." Old man said. Blond jinchuuriki channeled some of his chakra into newly placed seal on his palm and to his delight it created small spurts of flame.

"Thank you, Old man!" Naruto shouted and ran out of Hokage's office.

***********

It was Monday and Naruto came to the academy early in the morning so that he could definitely take a seat at the back of the classroom, where, most probably, he won't be noticed until his team was announced.

And he was right. No one, besides, maybe, shy heiress of Hyuuga clan, Hinata, even spared a look at his direction. And Naruto was quite content this way... Finally, Iruka-sensei entered the classroom, just a minute after the pink-haired banshee and Yamanaka heiress came and started arguing about who will sit next to Sasuke.

"Calm down, everybody!" Scarred chuunin ordered, but no one seemed to listen to him. "Everyone, calm down!" Still no reaction. "**I SAID SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!!!**" Iruka's giant head yelled. This had its effect as classroom immediately became quiet. "Thank you. Now I'll announce this year's teams."

At this point Naruto dozed off, waiting for his name to be announced. "...Team seven under jounin-sensei Yuhi Kurenai will be Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba. Team eight under jounin-sensei Hatake Kakashi will be Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke..." Iruka was interrupted by extremely load cry of happiness from pink-haired girl. "...And Naruto Uzumaki."

"WHAT?!" Naruto and Sakura shouted simultaneously. Then they turned to face each other.

"WHAT IS DEMON DOING HERE?! AND WHY IS IT ON MY TEAM?!" Pink-haired kunoichi yelled so loud that several close to her, including her precious Sasuke-kun were deafened.

"Yeah, what is looser doing here? Hadn't he failed the exam?" Kiba joined.

"Calm down." Iruka ordered. "True, Naruto failed the exam, but because of the events later that day the Hokage personally decided that Naruto is capable of being shinobi of Hidden Leaf. If you have problems with this, you can talk to the Hokage later. Now, let me continue..." And scarred Chunin continued announcing teams...

* * *

Sakura was enraged. Not only their sensei was three hours late, but her eternal love Sasuke-kun paid no attention to her advances. And what was worse, when Iruka-sensei left the classroom, that demon disappeared too, before she was able to draw kunai to kill it... Suddenly the door opened and Naruto calmly walked in. Pink-haired genin immediately took her kunai and threw it at him. Knife flew past him doing no harm. Letting out rather loud scream of frustration, Sakura began throwing all cold weapons in her reach at Naruto, but never even scratching him once, even if the blond did no visible attempts at dodging projectiles.

"Oh, so there is no one there, beside you..." Said a lazy voice from the door. "Good. It means no need to go to thee roof..." All three genins turned to see tall man with gravity defying silver hair. He wore standard jounin outfit plus mask that hid lower part of his face. His hitae-ate was worn in a way that it covered his left eye.

"YOU'RE LATE!!!" Sakura yelled but no one seemed to pay attention to her.

"As we are all here, let's start the introduction... Tell your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dream..." Man said lazily.

"Can you give us an example, sensei?" The still angry Haruno asked.

"Ah... OK... My name is Hatake Kakashi... My likes... You are too young to know this... Same goes for my hobbies and my dream... My dislikes... I have several..." All three genins shared expression that said 'What the fuck, he only told us his name!' "Now it's your turn pinky."

"Um... My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes are..." She looked at Sasuke, who did his best to ignore her, with a dreamy expression on her face. "My hobbies are..." She repeated her previous actions. "And my dream is..." She again looked at Sasuke with stars in her eyes. "I dislike Ino-pig and I despise, hate, detest and loathe the demon that was put on my and Sasuke-kun's perfect team." Kakashi merely nodded.

"You are next, brooding boy."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have no likes and many dislikes. I have no hobbies and I have no dream... It is an ambition. To kill certain someone and revive Uchiha clan." Ignoring Sakura's 'Sasuke-kun is so-o-o co-o-o-o-ol' outburst, jounin nodded.

"And now the blond one." He said.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like... I dunno... Gray witch, fire, Old man, certain redhead and those few who are my true friends. I dislike those who can't see past their fears and wrong vox populi. And those who judge without knowing anything about what they judge. My hobbies are training and... training. And I don't know what is my dream is anymore..."

"OK... Now, when we know each other, let's have a surviving test..." Kakashi began.

"But we had a lot of them in the academy!" Sakura interrupted.

"True. But this one is different. This test is to see what you can do in the field and to determine if you are ready to be ninja... Meet me tomorrow at seven in the morning at the training ground eight." And without saying 'goodbye' jounin disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sakura was ready to continue her assault on Naruto, but the blond too disappeared from the classroom.

"Do you want to go on a date with me, Sasuke-kun?" She asked. But Uchiha heir also was already gone. Pink-haired banshee screamed in frustration.

***********

"What should I do?" Naruto asked. He was sitting indian-style on a wooden platform in front of Kyuubi. "I have a survival test tomorrow against Jounin. And worse, one of my supposed teammates is after my blood!"

The Demoness looked at him. **"If this is the case... I suggest, you change your clothes to camouflage ones and try to stay out of sight as much time as possible. While you can take on an average Genin, you are still no where near the level where you can even run away from jounin. You should use ambushes and surprise attacks now - you body is still not ready to serious fights now."**

"Camouflage?.. I think Yuugao-san or Hayate-san might have some..." Naruto said thoughtfully. "Thank you, Kyuubi-sensei." Naruto was ready to leave his subconscious when the red-haired demoness stopped him.

**"There was one thing I thought about a lot recently, Naruto."**The blond looked at her quizzically. **"I think I should sometime teach you what to do with a girl. We don't want you to be hurt in any way 'cause you suddenly become shy and don't know what to do with your girlfriend, now do we?"** Kyuubi suddenly became more like a succubus. **"And I'm sure both of us will enjoy these lessons."** Naruto gulped and nodded, not really knowing what to think about this, before fading from his subconscious.

***********

Naruto was the first one to arrive at the training grounds next morning. He sat near a big bush there and covered himself with an ANBU camouflage cloak he was able to scrounge from Hayate. Sakura arrived several minutes later and never noticing him sat by the tree. Ten more minutes, just on the time Kakashi set, Sasuke appeared on the training ground... Almost two and a half hours later Kakashi himself decided to show up.

"YOU ARE LATE SENSEI!!!" Sakura yelled. Naruto stood up and folded the cloak, before he walked to the rest of his team.

"Nice to see you all here." Jounin said, unaffected by pink-haired kunoichi's scream in any way. "Let's have the test." He produced two bells from his pouch and tied them to his belt. "To pass this test you will need to get one of these bells..."

"BUT THERE ARE ONLY TWO BELLS!" Sakura shouted.

"Good... You know how to count." Kakashi said, unfazed by girl's screaming. "You can use any methods you want to get these bells... Oh, and you have only one hour for the test..."

"What will happen if someone doesn't get the bell?" The pink-haired kunoichi asked.

"They will be returned to the academy, pinky." Kakashi replied. "If there are no more questions, the test starts... NOW!" All three Genins immediately disappeared from his sight. Kakashi just stood in his place, recalling information he read about these three potential Genins.

_'Sakura Haruno. The top kunoichi of this year... Said to be good with genjutsu... I think I will test her first.'_ He thought before shunshin'ing to where the girl was.

* * *

Sakura was hiding in the bushes, trying to think of a way to get the bell and impress her Sasuke-kun. Suddenly she saw him walking in her direction and she jumped out of her hiding spot towards him. Sasuke steeped aside, letting her to land face first into the ground.

"You couldn't get the bell." He said coldly. "You are weak. I don't need weak people on my team. I shall eliminate you." With this he drew a kunai out of his holster. Sakura let out one hell of a long loud scream of horror and lost conscious... Somewhere in a tree not far from where it all happened Kakashi sighed.

"And this is the top kunoichi of this year? Genjutsu type? That was only D-rank illusion and she never even suspected that it wasn't real..." Man sighed again. "Maybe I should test the rookie of the year now? Hopefully, Sasuke will be better that this..." With that thought he shunshin'ed away.

* * *

Kakashi walked out of the clearing where angry Sasuke was buried in the ground with only his head visible. The Jounin walked into the next clearing, thinking of a way to deal with Naruto when blond attacked him himself. Naruto was using a taijutsu style Kakashi wasn't familiar with, but it didn't help the Kyuubi jinchuuriki as silver-haired jounin easily evaded incoming attack and hit blond on his back. There finally something interesting happened: Naruto turned into a cloud of white smoke.

"Shadow clone?" Kakashi asked aloud: no normal genin should be able to use such jutsu! But he couldn't think more about this as two more blonds charged at him. Again without much problem jounin destroyed them. Only to be facing three more. _'Where in the hell does he get so much chakra from?'_ This time one of the clones came dangerously close to the bell on Kakashi's belt, but still couldn't do anything as it was dispelled by a hit on its head. Silver-haired jounin expected to be facing whole army of clones this time, but instead a single Naruto came into the clearing. But this Naruto had his hitae-ate over his left eye. _'Strange.'_ "Are you trying to cosplay me? I believe that won't help you at all." Kakashi commented.

"Let's see." Naruto replied, before blindly charging at him.

"Don't you ever learn anything?" The man asked before hitting the blond on his head. Instead of expected cloud of white smoke, huge fireball appeared in the place of Naruto and Kakashi barely had enough time to kawarimi himself away. _'If I were a moment slower, I'd be seriously hurt.'_ The Jounin thought, looking at burn marks on his flak vest. _'I clearly underestimated him... But his file said that he isn't any stronger than civilian. What the fuck academy teachers were thinking when they wrote those files?'_ Kakashi snapped out of his thoughts as a group of small fireballs were flying towards him. Dodging the attack, the silver-haired jounin looked to where the fireballs came from and saw Naruto standing on the spot where his fireball clone exploded. Something was wrong! Kakashi checked the bells and found one to be missing. _'That fireball-clone burned the wire when it exploded. Fuck! This is not the dead-last of the academy. I'll have to have a word with Hokage-sama about academy teachers' professionalism. But right now I need to get this bell back.'_ Kakashi saw Naruto run through random sequence of hand seals before creating extremely large fireball that blocked him from the Jonin's sight. Moment later about dozen of Naruto's jumped from behind the fireball and split up in all directions. _'Fuck!'

* * *

_

A loud bell rang signaling the end of one hour time. The test was over.

Naruto was the first one to reach the clearing where Kakashi was waiting for his team to crowd together. And this was his fatal mistake as he barely sensed two kunai rapidly approaching him.

He wasn't fast enough to dodge them completely, but at least instead of piercing his heart and aorta, one knife cut his shoulder while the other punctured his lung. Naruto fell on the ground in pain. From the corner of his eye he saw Sakura approach him and steal his bell... The pink-haired kunoichi screamed happily as she did it.

"Give me the bell," Sasuke ordered in his usual monotone voice when he saw kunoichi of his team standing over Naruto's body with the bell in her hand. Without thinking for even one second Sakura threw the bell to her crush, who didn't even say 'thank you' to her.

"Hm... Looks like you all pass the test..." Kakashi said lazily. "But I order you not to try and kill your teammates while I'm around. It will give me one hell a lot of a paperwork I don't want to deal with."

"But why do you pass this demon, sensei?" Sakura asked. "It is completely useless!"

"Unfortunately, from what I observed, Naruto is not useless. You are." Jounin replied. "You were taken down by the simplest genjutsu while Sasuke managed to touch the bell and Naruto even to burn me a little." Pink-haired kunoichi threw a hateful look at Kyuubi jinchuuriki, who was trying to stand up, promising him a slow and very painful death. "This is all for today. Meet me tomorrow on this training ground at eight in the morning." With this Kakashi shunshin'ed away.

Naruto, being left wounded, low on chakra and unprotected by laws against Sakura, used smoke grenade to cover his retreat into the forest. If he was to get away from this mess alive, he was going to have a long talk with Old man about why was he stuck on the team where someone was out for his blood...

Truly, his life couldn't be any worse, he thought...

* * *

I hope this chapter is ...acceptable? I used every little bit of inspration I had at that moment to write it... **R&R** anyway!


	4. Forgotten shrine

* **review response**:  
monkeysrockdude, OBSERVER01, Kraken77, Kammari, alice456, thank you!  
Hakkyou no Yami, read and see.  
GingitsuneRaposo, why? 'cause if Naruto counterattacks, evil almighty council will execute him. Not responding gives him at least a chance to survive.  
Fox-Sama, did you mean Kakashi? If yes - no, he is too lazy in this story to hate someone.

* **jutsu list**:  
**Katon: Goukakyuu **- (C-rank) Fire style: great fireball - user exhales fire from his mouth.  
**Doton: keisei** - (B-rank) Earth style: formation - jutsu of my own creation. Allows user to modify earth in a small area at his will. User need to stand on the ground to do this jutsu

**Pyro  
chapter 3: Forgotten shrine**

Twenty minutes later, when he was finally sure that his life was in no immediate danger, Naruto entered familiar sewers of his subconscious, going straight to the chamber where mighty Kyuubi no Yoko – and his sensei – was sealed. Sensing his approach, the redhead opened her eyes.

"**You are here to ask for more training, Naruto-kun?**" She asked, before he could say anything.

"Yes!" Naruto was still angry about what happened during Kakashi's bell test. "Screw 'How to act with girls lessons'! Teach me shunshin or something like it!" Demoness sighed.

"**While usually I wouldn't allow you to order me like that, this time I agree: our survival comes first. I will teach you the technique called dimensional shift. It's much like shunshin, but faster and can be used to travel greater distances. But be warned, though, without my yoki to power the technique, it will exhaust you really quickly.**" Kyuubi looked at Naruto, waiting for his answer. Which came only moment later.

"Teach me this jutsu!" Redhead nodded. After all it was Naruto she was speaking to, he will never miss a chance to learn another jutsu...

"**Let's get started then, Naruto-kun.**"

*******

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed, glancing at another meter-high pile of documents that he needed to sign. Letting out another sigh, aged Kage picked his brush and reached out for the annoying paperwork.

'_Why do I have a feeling that these piles grow on their own?_' Old man thought. But before he could sign even one paper, one angry Naruto Uzumaki appeared in front of his table, surrounded by gray tendrils of darkness, which faded away second later. "What can I do for you..." Sarutobi started, but was interrupted by blond youth.

"Why did you put me on a team that wants to kill me, Hokage-_sama_." OK, if Naruto used his title, he was really pissed of.

"I'm not sure I understand you, Naruto-kun. I'm sure Hinata-chan and Shino-kun couldn't be that bad. What happened?" Aged Kage asked cautiously.

"Which Hinata and Shino? Why was I placed on a team with Haruno and Uchiha?" For a brief moment Naruto's eyes flashed crimson. Sarutobi sighed and reached for a team list that he kept in his table. He then showed the list to the young jinchuuriki pointing to where his team should have been written. "But it says that I'm with those... those two, not Hinata and Shino! What is the meaning of all this, Old man?!" Hokage looked at the paper. As his eyes fell onto the signature in the corner, he noticed that something wasn't right. Sarutobi glanced down, to his table and saw that in was opened, even if very carefully, without his permission. He let out an angry growl.

"One day I will kill those council." After a short pause, he continued. "Those senile fools fabricated documents to place you with the one who hates you most." Naruto's anger decreased drastically, but not disappeared completely.

"So, will I be placed on the right team?" Blond jinchuuriki asked with hope.

"Unfortunately, Naruto-kun, I can't do this until the end of the next month. There is law, according to which genin must be on a team at least two months before he can be transferred to another and even Hokage can't do anything there. This is, of course, if original team isn't killed or captured." Naruto sighed, clearly irritated with the situation.

"OK, you'll transfer me to the right team as soon as two months pass, and I'll try not to harm them in the meantime..." Sarutobi nodded.

"Fair enough, Naruto-kun."

"Just remember, I'm still angry at you, Hokage-sama." And Naruto disappeared, leaving the same tendrils of darkness in his wake.

*******

Next month was almost like hell for Naruto. Thankfully, he became rather proficient with this dimensional shift technique and, thus, spent no more time with his 'team' that was absolutely necessary. Right now, after 'training' that consisted of just running to the Hokage tower to get mission, Naruto and team seven were in the briefing hall...

"Today you can weed Yamanaka clan greenhouses, walk Inuzuka dogs or..." Old man Hokage made a dramatic pause. "Catch Tora the cat again." While Kyuubi jinchuuriki didn't like these stupid D-ranks very much, at least doing them he stayed in the village and could escape from assassination attempts from his pink-haired 'teammate' easily. Unfortunately for him, Sasuke had enough of this chores.

"Kakashi-sensei, we should pick harder mission. These useless task will never give me the skill to kill _him_." Silver-haired jounin merely nodded and flipped page of his ever-present orange book full with smut.

"Hokage-sama, team seven requests C-rank mission." He said finally.

"Are you sure, your team is ready for such mission, Kakashi-san?" Sarutobi inquired.

"with all the training we've done..." Naruto tried to insert that they had no training at all, but before even one word left his mouth, he was forced to dodge Sakura's punch. "...the team is more than ready for the mission." Hokage nodded.

"Very well. Then you'll deliver this scroll to the Hidden Grass village." Old man said, giving encrypted message scroll to Kakashi. "Dismissed."

"Team, meet me at the northern gates in one hour. Pick supplies for a week long mission." Just as he said it, Naruto disappeared from the hall via dimensional shift, while Sakura and Sasuke, who knew no such jutsu, walked away.

*******

It was the forth day of his first C-rank mission and Naruto was thinking that everything wasn't that bad: they ran a lot and this left Sasuke and, especially, Sakura with no energy to try to do anything to him.

Currently they were running along long canyon named 'devil's mouth' that was located on the border of Grass country. And if it wasn't raining since morning, the canyon would be looking mesmerizing... Suddenly a group of about twenty rogues intercepted their way.

"Give us your money and we will let you pass." The biggest man among them, presumably their leader, said, unsheathing his sword. Sakura looked scared and ready to give them anything, just that they left her in one piece, while Sasuke, Naruto and, of course, Kakashi, were absolutely unfazed.

"Team, they are yours. Show me what you can do." Silver-haired jounin said, reopening his precious orange book. Uchiha boy smirked and ran through handseals.

"**Katon: goukakyuu!**" He exhaled large fireball, forcing rogues to jump aside. At the same time Naruto, his geass already activated, created a flame in his hand and turned it into dozen of small fireballs, that were immediately sent at his opponents. The leader of the band was hit by one of those.

"You, little shit! You will pay for this!" He ran through handseals and slammed his hands onto the ground. "**Doton: keisei!**" A wave of stone hit Naruto from the side and threw him into the canyon... Next, and the last, thing rogue saw was Kakashi's kunai between his eyes. Seeing their leader, and the only ninjutsu user among them, dead, rogues, who were still alive, fled the battlefield.

"Good work, team. Let's continue our mission. Hokage-sama will replace fallen Naruto once we are back to Konoha."

*******

'_**Open your eyes!**_' Naruto heard Kyuubi yelling at him, but couldn't do this. Just couldn't. '_**Open your eyes, you, useless bag of meat!**_' Demoness roared, but to no effect. She sighed. '_**If you want something done right, do it yourself.**_' And hot light-red yoki flooded Naruto's chakra network, concentrating in his arms. Moment later blond's arms were surrounded by the aura in form of predator's claws. Another moment, and these claws hit the walls of the canyon, trying to slow down Naruto's fall. '_**Remember, you owe me your life, Naruto-kun.**_'

* * *

Naruto moaned. His back and his hands were sore. He opened his eyes and found himself lying on the bottom of Demon's mouth canyon. It was so deep, that he barely could see blue sky somewhere far away. What intrigued him more right now, were scratched out on the walls runes that were glowing with dim red light. And small cave in the center of these runes, going into the rock. Forcing himself to stand up, Naruto limped towards the cave.

He didn't know, for how long was he walking through dark tunnel of the cave, but in the end, Kyuubi jinchuuriki entered giant chamber, lit up by strange glowing red crystals. In the center of this cavern there was small shrine with giant scroll on the pedestal in it.

'_**I-Impossible!.. This is divine gift for you! Sign this scroll!**_' Demoness cried in his head.

'_Why? What is it?_' Naruto asked her, not really understanding why she wanted him to sign the scroll. But her answer was just:

'_**Just sign the scroll!**_' Shrugging, blond shinobi decided to play along with Kyuubi and walked towards the shrine. Once he was in, he opened the scroll. '_**Write your name in blood and place your fingerprints under it.**_' There were two names already written in this scroll, centuries ago judging by the way blood looked, but still Naruto could see what he had to do. Biting his finger hard, blond jinchuuriki wrote his name in blood in the first empty slot in the scroll and then placed his bloody fingerprints below as redheaded demoness instructed.

'_And what now?_' Suddenly he was shown a sequence of four handseals.

'_**These are handseals for summoning technique. Do them and slam your hand onto the ground. Be sure that there is some of your blood on your hand or the jutsu will fail.**_' Kyuubi said. '_**I'll help you now – we need to summon their boss. As for the future, remember, the more chakra you push into the jutsu, the stronger creature you'll be able to summon. Now, do it.**_' Naruto, feeling Kyuubi's yoki flood his body, ran through the handseals and slammed his hand onto the ground – blood from signing the scroll was still fresh, so he didn't need to draw more of it. As soon as his hand touched the ground circle and nine lines of small black symbols appeared around it. And moment later, there was explosion of reddish smoke in front of him.

"**Who summoned me?**" Deep, almost demonic voice said from the smoke.

"I-It was me... N-Naruto Uzumaki." Blond jinchuuriki answered. There was a pause several seconds long. In this time smoke dissipated and Naruto could finally see what he summoned. It was huge creature made of solid blue fire. It looked like lion with reptilian tail, walking on it's back legs. It had two pairs of 'arms' with bronze gloves on hands and four enormous swords sheathed on its back. The 'lion' had red mane and wore dark-red loincloths. It's eyes looked empty, filled only with light-blue flames.

"**You? You summoned me?**" Creature laughed. "**As I see no one else there, I'll believe you, human. But you'll have to pass the test if you want to summon me or one of my subordinates in the future.**" It paused for a moment. "**If you are not sure you can pass, back away now: if you fail the test, I will kill you.**"

'_And this is your 'divine gift'? Are you trying to kill me?_' Naruto yelled at Kyuubi in his head, but she answered him with a chuckle.

'_**Worry not, young one. You will pass this test, Naruto-kun. I believe in you.**_'

'_You know, you aren't helping at all._' Blond shinobi sighed. "So, what will the test be... Umm..."

"**Honogyoku.**" Creature told Naruto it's name.

"What will the test be, Honogyoku-sama?"

"**First, you have to answer me the question: what do you think about fire?**" Kyuubi jinchuuriki was surprised by the question – he expected anything but answering the questions to be the test – but answered it immediately.

"Well... Fire can keep you warm at night, but it also can burn you. Or someone else..."

"**Good answer.**" Honogyoku said. "**Fire can be both creator and destructor. The Sun is giant ball of fire and we all live because it is there. But every year thousands living beings are burned to death by fire. The same goes for other elements. Now, your second question: if you had power, great power, what would you do with it?**"

"I'd protect my village, so that they finally will see me as a human and not as a demon I contain." The creature looked at Naruto closely.

"**You have a mark of fire on you. Why?**"

"I'm jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Yoko and I was given the gift of pyrokinesis by the gray witch."

"**Interesting... Oh, well... You speak truth, human. Your heart isn't tainted with sins. From now on fire devs will help you.**" Honogyoku said, bowing slightly. "**But remember, should you turn evil, we will kill you.**" Naruto gulped and nodded. "**Now I will tell you about devs of fire. There four classes. The weakest are fire Elementals, they can be of different forms and sizes, but they are rarely taller than three-four of your human meters. You said you have a gift of pyrokinesis.**" Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded again. "**Then it is possible that you can temporary create them with your gift. Then there are Emissaries of fire. They are bigger than elementals and look like your samurai warriors without swords. They are as strong as a platoon of trained soldiers. Next, there are Firebirds. They are big birds of fire. But don't mistake them for the Phoenixes. Phoenixes will never bind themselves with summoning contact... Firebirds are very strong and only they among fire devs can fly. Finally, there are devs like me. We are called Raja. Most of us can hold our ground against other summons' bosses. I'm the strongest and is equal to Gamabunta the Toad in term of strength.**" Naruto nodded once more. Kyuubi was right, after all: this summoning scroll was a divine gift. "**But as we all are made of fire, we are weak against water, so you can summon us near large water sources only if your life depends on it. Is that clear?**" Blond shinobi gulped and nodded.

"Yes, Honogyoku-sama."

"**Good. I'll leave now. But I will send firebird to carry you out of this cavern... Oh, take the scroll with you; you are now it's keeper, but do not let unworthy ones sign it.**" With that Honogyoku the Raja disappeared in an explosion of reddish smoke. Moments later there was another explosion of smoke, in which large bird made of orange flames appeared.

*******

Sakura was very happy: they finally got rid from that demon on their team and will be given normal teammate once they are back... If only Sasuke-kun agreed to go on a date with her, and she will be the happiest kunoichi living.

They left Hidden Grass village yesterday and now were running through grassy hills with rare forests. Suddenly Kakashi-sensei tensed. Sakura followed man's line of sight and saw single cloaked figure standing in less that hundred meters ahead of them. The figure wasn't tall, just like her or Sasuke-kun and carried bog and very old scroll on its back. Unfortunately, the figure's face was hidden by the hood. Kakashi-sensei gave them sign to be cautious as they approached the figure. When they were in less than five meters from it, the figure removed the hood, showing blond spiky hair, cerulean eyes and three pair of whisker-like marks on cheeks. Naruto.

"Good day, Kakashi-_sensei_. Mind if I rejoin your team?"

* * *

This is all for now. Unfortunately, no updates here until after New Year... so, Merry Christmas and Happy New year everyone!

though, "_**Jinchuuriki & huntresses**_" and "_**Konoha's young sage**_" will be updated before the end of december. And one lemon oneshot will be published in this time too. B)


	5. Chuunin exams, part 1

Hello, everyone, I'm back... with this rudimentary chapter for Pyro... No real inspiration, sorry.

* **review response**:  
**Hakkyou no Yami**, Tayuya will appear in chapter 6. And about C.C., she won't appear anytime soon, sorry.  
**eclipseX**, **Elemental Dragon Swordman**, **OBSERVER01**, **Kammari**, thank you!  
**Save The Cheetahs**, not evil, but dark. Naruto wants to be treated as a human, and even if he wants revenge, he has to suppress this 'wish' - as he said, hatred will create only more hatred, and, thus, he feels that if executes his revenge, he will only be hated more and treated worse. So he desires to do something good (protect the village) so people will change their opinion about him. But, he might betray it, if thing won't change. who knows, what future holds? Oh, and Naruto can't kill Sakura without going missing-nin after that: if he kills her, it will be seen as a treason and he will either have to run away (with hunter-nins after his head) or be executed.  
**Save The Cheetahs**, well, "Fox's soulmate" was kind of spoiler for this story after all =)

* **jutsu list**:**  
Kuchiyose**** no jutsu** - (A-rank) Summoning - Time-space ninjutsu that summons object/animal (requers signed contract with that type of animals) to user's location

"speaking"_  
'thinking'_**  
**_messages_**  
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Iruka's demon head jutsu"_  
'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

thanks to**_ LZ-35 SRX _**for beta-reading this chapter**_.  
_**

**Pyro  
chapter 4: Chuunin exams, part 1**

"Give the scroll to Sasuke-kun!" Demanded Sakura. Again. But this time she had kunai in her hand. Naruto sighed. Why in the hell did he get a jounin who paid no attention to what was happening in a team as his sensei? Oh, yeah, right, evil council. Kyuubi jinchuuriki activated geass in his left eye and created a blade of fire on his wrist.

"Get lost." He hissed back, releasing some killing intent. Pink-haired excuse of kunoichi almost wet herself from this childish dose of KI and decided to include Kakashi in her plan.

"Kakashi-sensei, the demon is trying to kill me! You must punish him! Say, make it watch Sasuke-kun using its scroll while we gut it." Silver-haired jounin digressed from his orange book of smut.

"You said something?" Sakura screamed in frustration, but decided not to try execute her plan alone. Seeing that he was safe, at least for several next minutes, Naruto let fires disappear, before he deactivated geass. Good thing, they in less than a day from Konoha – any more and he'd go crazy with his 'team'... Yeah, it was really a good thing: during these hours Sakura did about dozen more attempts to force him to give his scroll to 'her Sasuke-kun', driving blond jinchuuriki crazy, but other than this, failing miserably. After the mission report, where Kakashi didn't mention about Naruto falling in the 'devil's mouth' canyon, pink-haired kunoichi went as far as asking Hokage to order 'demon' to give the scroll to Sasuke, but failed there too. As usual, as soon as Kakashi dismissed them, Naruto escaped his team via dimensional shift, going straight to his home. There, he hid the scroll where no one, other than him, would find it. After all, it was his mission to keep the scroll from unworthy ones...

*******

Naruto was hiding again in the tree. It amused him to no end, how bad both the rookie of the year and the smartest kunoichi of the year were, when it comes to discovering someone in disguise. Finally, two hours late, as usual, Kakashi arrived. Via Shunshin. Seeing that jounin was there at last, blond jinchuuriki leaped onto the ground. Sakura was still screeching at Kakashi for being late and paid no attention to him.

"Calm down." Silver-haired jounin said, no looking away from his precious book. "You have a chance to participate in chuunin exams and I was busy getting you registration forms." He then tried to pass forms to his students, but Haruno girl took Naruto's and didn't want to pass it to the blond. "Sakura, pass the form to Naruto."

"Demon ain't going to the exam. I will not let it ruin my and Sasuke-kun's perfect team!" Screeched pink-haired banshee.

"Sakura!" Kakashi was ready to give away the secret of first two parts of the exam just to let his enter, as council wanted, when the girl screamed from something hot – tiny fireball from Naruto – landing on her hand and leaving first degree burn. As it happened, Sakura had dropped her and Naruto's forms and Kyuubi jinchuuriki wasted no time picking his own. "Now, as everyone has forms... If you wish to participate in the exam, bring this form filled on monday to the room 301 of the academy before ten o'clock. Dismissed." As this magical word was said, Naruto immediately disappeared via his dimensional shift.

* * *

Fifteen minutes before ten in the morning Naruto arrived to the corridor leading to the room 301 via his dimensional shift. To his surprise, Kakashi was standing there.

"You'll have to wait until your teammates arrive to enter this room." Silver-haired jounin said, looking up at his student for a second, before returning his full attention to his book. Several minutes later rather beaten Sasuke and Sakura, who was nursing him, paying no attention that he didn't need or want it, joined them. "Good. Now, that you all are here, you can enter this room. Good luck." Said Kakashi before leaving them alone. Before Sakura could attack him, Naruto entered the room and two his 'teammates' followed him soon. Naruto's attention was immediately on red-headed shinobi for Hidden Sand with large gourd on his back. Something felt familiar about him.

'_**He is container like you.**_' Kyuubi's said through mental link. '_**Must contain that crazy tanuki Ichibi. Be careful, he might be really unstable.**_' Naruto nodded, but still approached Sand-nin. Accompanied by stares of red-head's teammates, who looked at him like he was crazy.

"What do you want?" Ichibi jinchuuriki asked in monotone, yet clearly unfriendly voice.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I just wanted to say hello to my brethren, oh, jinchuuriki of Ichibi no Shukaku." Naruto replied so that only red-headed ninja could hear him. And blond jinchuuriki saw first emotion on his brethren's face. Shock.

"How did you know?" Suna-nin asked in the same monotone voice, and a cork on his gourd moving dangerously out of its place.

"I'm jinchuuriki, like you. I can feel presence of bijuu inside you." Ichibi jinchuuriki nodded but still didn't let his guard down. "Can I have your name?"

"Gaara. Sabaku no Gaara. I hope you are strong. As I will prove my existence by killing you." Naruto saw sand moving out of Gaara's gourd, but before red-headed jinchuuriki could do anything, proctors voice boomed through the auditory, calling up to order. "We will meet again, Naruto Uzumaki." And with this Gaara walked away.

* * *

First text, even if it was writing test with at least chuunin level questions, wasn't that hard for Naruto: after all, he had demoness with millennia of experience and knowledge. And the demoness was quite willing to help him. Morino Ibiki, torture and interrogation specialist, and proctor of this test, tried to brake them with tenth question, but neither Naruto, nor Sakura or Sasuke broke under the pressure. And they passed the first test, along with twenty three other teams. They were immediately passed to the proctor of the second test, Mitarashi Anko, again torture and interrogation specialist. But the second test was a five days long survival test. All twenty four teams were brought to the infamous 'Forest of Death' training ground. Anko, after explaining the rules, made everyone sign the papers that said that in case someone died during this test, Konoha and she personally hold no responsibility for this. After these papers were signed, each team was given one of two scrolls. Team eight got Heaven scroll. Then they were accompanied by one of chuunin assistants to the gate number thirteen.

"Get ready. The test will start in four minutes." Chuunin said, looking at this watch. Team was getting ready, which meant Naruto was checking his fire-creating seals and checking other equipment, Sasuke was brooding and Sakura was split between fawning over 'Sasuke-kun' and sending dark glares towards Naruto for the reason she couldn't kill him without losing a chance of passing this test. Finally, exactly four minutes later there was loud horn and chuunin opened the gates, letting team eight into the forest of death.

* * *

They were in this damned forest only one hour and they were already attacked by some giant bugs, leeches, spiders, they met two really big tigers and a pack of wolfs. And each time boys had to use fire to keep predators away from them; Sakura did nothing other than trying to boss around and being scared to death. Finally team eight found relatively save place where they could make a short camp. But been away from various animals didn't mean that they were safe from other teams, as was proven really soon when strong wind jutsu threw them in different directions...

When Naruto opened his eyes, he found himself in front of forty meters long viper that was ready to eat him. Kyuubi jinchuuriki immediately ran up the tree he was thrown into, and as soon as he was several seconds away from the snake, he bit his finger to draw some blood and flashed through handseals.

"**Kuchiyose!**" As he wanted, samurai-look-alike seven meters tall emissary of fire appeared in the reddish smoke. It saw viper attacking its summoner and immediately went against the snake. After short battle the snake was defeated and it disappeared in the giant poof of smoke.

"**Do you have other orders, Naruto-san?**" Emissary of fire asked. Naruto thought for a second. While the emissary was really strong, it also was a bit too big to be moving easily trough the dense forest.

"No. And thank you for saving my life." He replied. Emissary of fire bowed slightly and disappeared in a cloud of reddish smoke. '_Now I need to find my 'team'._' Kyuubi jinchuuriki thought. At first he thought it to be rather difficult task, but just a minute into his searches he heard a scream that he could easily identify as Sakura's. When, just thirty or so seconds later, Naruto arrived to the place, where the scream came from, he saw strange pale man biting Sasuke's neck. Man removed his fangs from boy's neck, and Uchiha fell onto the branch, screaming in pain.

"So, my snake failed to kill you." Man said, releasing a lot of killing intent, but Naruto easily brushed it off. "Looks like I will have to do this myself." Blond jinchuuriki looked at him closely and identified him as an S-rank missing-nin Orochimaru.

"I won't die today. Not by your hand." Naruto said, activating his geass and hiding it under his hitae-ate. But Orochimaru saw it.

"Brave words, genin. But you might be right. I won't kill you. I will take you from this village and experiment on you." With the speed expected from S-rank ninja, pale-skinned man attacked, but Naruto, even if barely, was able to evade the attack. Creating several small fireballs with his pyrokinesis, Kyuubi jinchuuriki tried to wound the man, but he skillfully kawarimi'ed away. Feeling that on his own he don't stand a chance against this man, Naruto decided to perform summoning jutsu once again. And surprising Orochimaru with the fact that he knew the jutsu, allowed him to do this.

"**Kuchiyose!**" In reddish clouds of smoke, three relatively large fire elementals appeared. "Keep him busy for a while." Naruto ordered. Elementals nodded and attacked Orochimaru, who summoned one of his snakes to fight them. Deciding that it was now or never, blond shinobi dashed towards Sasuke and Sakura, both of whom were now unconscious – one blackened out from the pain and the other was knocked out by Orochimaru's killing intent – and picked them up, ready to run and hide from crazy serpent wielding man. Unfortunately for him, Naruto was never able to do this as four loud poof said that the fight between summons was over.

"You have interesting abilities, boy. You are summoner and you have control over fire I have never seen before." Orochimaru said, appearing out of the branch in front of him. "I suppose, I shall give you my gift too. I'm in need of people like you." Naruto saw man's neck stretching past what was humanly possible limit.

'_**RUN!!!**_' Kyuubi screamed in his head, sending her yoki into Naruto's chakra system. But it all was in vain as Orochimaru's fangs already were at blond's shoulder. Last think Naruto felt before unimaginable pain consumed him were four teeth breaking skin of his left shoulder...

* * *

Sorry, this chapter is really small, but, I promise, next one will be bigger. And better. But that will be next time... Anyway, R&R!!!


	6. Chuunin exams, part 2

Hello, everyone, I'm back with more of the "**_Pyro_**" story!!!

* **review response**:  
**eclipseX**, **OBSERVER01**, **jinlai**, **Eyes of Truth**, **bumike99**, **Chibi-Kyuubi-Chan**, **atlantisatlan12**, thank you!  
**Chris ShadowMoon**, sorry, no backlashes on Orochimaru this chapter. =) And Naruto isn't just tired, but he'll be OK, worry not.  
**god of stuff**, about Lee - he has an image of a 'disabled person', who tried to be on par with normal shinobi, thus instructors tend to go easy on him, I think this is the reason he managed to pass the academy, but who, in the end, knows...

* **jutsu list**:**  
Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'teleportation' jutsu  
**Zankuha** - (D-rank) Decapitating air waves - Using air vents in Zaku's hands, this jutsu creates a massive gust of wind which he can blast at an opponent.**  
Katon: Goukakyuu **- (C-rank) Fire style: great fireball - user exhales fire from his mouth.  
**Katon: gouryuuka** - (B-rank) Fire style: great dragon fire - The ninja does needed handseals and then exhales powerful fireball shaped as a dragon head.  
******Hakkeshou kaiten** - (clan jutsu) Eight divination palms of the hand, Heavenly spin - If an attack is near, the clan member will release a large of amount of chakra from their tenketsu. The member then begins to spin like a top, creating a whirling vortex that can nullify almost any attack.  
**Juuho soushiken** - (clan jutsu) Gentle step twin lions fists - after gathering chakra to her fists, Hinata will skillfully spin towards her target to avoid attack and strike them. Spectral lion heads will then form around her fists.  
**Hakke sanjuuni shou** - (clan jutsu) Eight divination signs: thirty two palms - weaker version of famous/infamous "64 palms"

_**AN**_: Tayuya appears in two chapters, worry not, my reader.

**Disclaimer:** still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

* * *

**Warning**: this chapter** is NOT** beta-read, so there may be mistakes, a lot of mistakes, actually...

* * *

**Pyro  
chapter 5: Chuunin exams, part 2**

Naruto felt like he was run over by something really heavy. Repeatedly. And his head was aching terribly. He was covered in a cold sweat. What surprised him a bit, his left arm wasn't aching. He didn't feel anything about it at all. Nor could he move it... Opening his eyes, he saw Sakura standing over him with kunai in her hand. Groaning, he sat up.

"If you kill me, your Uchiha fails the test, didn't that Anko say this?" For several seconds pink-haired kunoichi glared at him, but then there was a moan – probably, Sasuke's – and she went to see what was with him, returning kunai to her pouch. Sighing, Naruto decided to find out, what was wrong with his left arm and removed his jacket and T-shirt. On his left shoulder he found a seal that looked like three commas, positioned in the center of a dead flesh circle. "What's going on?" He asked angrily.

'_**I had to do this, sorry...**_' Came Kyuubi's reply. '_**This seal is parasitic and tried to attach itself to your body. It uses some kind of dark chakra that is sure not compatible with my yoki. If I didn't do this, you might have died. Worry not, though, you shoulder will be repaired in three days.**_' He might be angry with this, but if it was this or death, this was better option. Maybe...

'_Thanks, I guess..._' Using his chakra to enchant his senses, Naruto located a small stream nearby and went there to wash his shoulder. When he returned back thirty minutes later, something was wrong, too quiet even for the 'forest of death'. Again enchanting his senses, blond jinchuuriki smelled three barely familiar shinobi, preparing to attack. While he cared for his so called teammates just as much as the cared for him, Naruto didn't want to spend next several days in this forest alone. "Who's there?" He asked. His answer was three kunai aimed at his head, followed by a pair of senbon needles.

"Lucky punk." He heard a whisper. Activating his geass, Naruto summoned a flame from the seal on his right hand and turned it into several rather large fireballs that were immediately shot in the direction of the sound. There were explosions of debris and someone cursed rather loudly.

"**Zankuha!**" Naruto barely had any time to dodge two powerful blasts of air sent in his direction. Moment later he was hit by some kind of sonic attack and the world around him began to lose focus, and he fell down. Kyuubi jinchuuriki hissed in pain as a kunai, probably with acidic coating, hit him on his right shoulder.

"Yeah, useless punk. Let's kill him." Male voice said as sounds of three pairs of legs approached lying on the ground Naruto.

'_Fuck! I need to do something!_' Blond teen decided that if he couldn't localize his target, but knew it was close enough, he should just send an attack in all directions. Once again creating flame with the seal, he built a dome of fire around himself and then pushed the fire away. There was hissing sound of something hit by fire and a lot of cursing. The world returned to normal. '_Yes!_' Now Naruto could see that he – or his team – was attacked by the trio of shinobi from Hidden Sound, who now were fighting with the fire on and around them. Using there fires, young jinchuuriki surrounded the trio by the dome of fire. "You will give me the scroll and then leave this part of the forest, or I will kill you."

"Like hell!" A boy with dark unruly hair spit back.

"Hmm." Was Naruto's response, as he just waited for his fire to burn all oxygen from inside the dome. Just a little more than minute later, he got the answer he wanted.

"OK, OK, we give up!" Naruto created a small hole in the dome.

"No funny business, or I will burn you alive." He saw all the Sound ninja nod, and then the Earth scroll was passed to him. "Good. Now leave!" He opened the side of the dome, converting it into several small fireballs ready to burn anyone that went against their master. Seeing that they really had no other option, Sound trio left the clearing. When they were far enough, Naruto allowed himself to relax and deactivated the geass, making fire disappear. But the fate decided that it wasn't the time, as he was suddenly hit by a powerful wave of some evil chakra. Turning around, Kyuubi jinchuuriki saw Sasuke, but this wasn't normal Sasuke: this one looked completely insane and evil, had strange purplish aura around him and dark flame-like marks on the left half of his body.

"**Fight me, dobe!**" Uchiha growled, before flashing through handseals faster than Naruto ever saw him to. "**Katon: goukakyu!**" Enormous fireball sped towards Naruto, who barely had time to roll out of its way.

'_I'm too low on chakra to fight this monster right now with the geass..._' Unfortunately, other than geass, Naruto only had henge and kawarimi, shadow clones, summoning and dimensional shift. None of these jutsu were going to help him again Sasuke. '_Looks like I have no choice... Kyuubi-sensei, lend me your power!_' Naruto dodge a hail of shuriken from his opponent.

"**Why are you not fighting, loser? Are you afraid, afraid of the might of the Uchiha?**" Sasuke taunted, preparing to launch another fireball at his teammate. But he paused as incredible amount of energy exploded from Naruto's body. Blond jinchuuriki now was surrounded by the red bonfire of yoki and rather heavy aura of very potent KI; his eyes became blood-red with slits, whisker marks on his cheeks became much more pronounced and Sasuke could see Naruto's nails turn claws... Naruto's left eye turned back to its geass form.

"**You wanted to fight?**" Naruto said, looking at Sasuke and not noticing that their combined KI knocked Sakura unconscious... Several small fireballs formed directly from the yoki surrounding the blond teen. These fireballs immediately shot at possessed Uchiha, growing as they flew towards him. Naruto barely noticed uncomfortable pan in his left eye and some blood that leaked from it. '_Note to self: don't use pyrokinesis and Kyuubi's yoki at the same time if you don't want to become blind._' Sasuke dodged fireballs and finally finished his jutsu.

"**Katon: gouryuuka!**" Large fireball in a shape of dragon head was launched at Naruto, who simply made it split in six ribbons of fire that flew around him, before taking Uchiha boy as their new target. Using this as a distraction, Naruto himself advanced towards his 'teammate' and appeared behind him.

"**Time to sleep, Sasuke-chan.**" Blond jinchuuriki hit a point on other boy's neck, knocking him unconscious. As soon as Sasuke fell on the ground, Kyuubi's yoki receded and Naruto's world too went black.

"I think it's time for us to make an appearance, eh?" Someone said on the edge of the clearing in an ancient language. There was a roar of agreement and then single female with amber eyes, accompanied by large white tiger entered the battlefield. Strange duo approached unconscious Naruto. "We need to bring him to the shelter. It won't be good for me if this young one dies." Female said, picking the boy up. "Bring the rest of humans to the shelter too." She ordered and the tiger started dragging Sasuke after to the same hole in the tree its mistress carried the blond boy...

*******

Next morning after the battle they woke in the shelter, with no one else there, with nothing taken from them, but none of them remembered how they got there. Deciding it to be something of no interest to them for now, the trio continued the test. In the evening of the next day they ran into Kusa team and 'borrowed' their Heaven scroll, so today in the morning, rested and ready for anything, they reached the tower. As they entered, they were faced with a strange riddle on the wall. Sasuke though that the scrolls they had might have the clue, so they opened them. But those were summoning scrolls that brought Iruka-sensei in front of them. The man congratulated them on successfully completing the second test and showed them the way further into the tower. As they had about three hours before the end of the second test, they were allowed to wander a bit... Finally, everyone was called to the arena in the center of the tower... During Hokage's speech, Naruto observed the teams that completed the test: Suna trio was there as were teams seven and ten. There also were two other teams from Konoha that Naruto knew next to nothing about. And finally there was sound trio that he took the scroll from in the forest... Blond jinchuuriki returned from his thoughts as a newly-arrived sickly looking jounin, Hayate, started explaining the rules for the preliminaries that will be held right now.

"...And our first fight will be between..." Everyone looked at the screen on the wall. It showed two random names. "Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi, both of Konohagakure no Sato. These two, please, remain, the rest, please take your places on the balconies." Naruto didn't really watch the fight: it was slow and not really interesting as Sasuke used only taijutsu while Yoroi used only strange technique that stole enemy's chakra. Finally Sasuke landed a lucky hit on his opponent, knocking him unconscious, thus winning the match. Kakashi shunshin'ed in front of Uchiha and proceeded to drag him somewhere. "Our second match will be between... Hyuuga Hinata... of Konohagakure no Sato and Sabaku no Gaara from Sunagakure no Sato." Ichibi jinchuuriki used sand shunshin to get down to the arena, while Hinata decided to use ladders... When they both were ready, Hayate announced the start of the match: "Hajime!"

"**Byakugan!**" Hinata immediately activated her bloodline limit and took a look at her opponent. Just as did that, she became really afraid and unconsciously took a step back.

"Don't worry, Hinata-san, you can do this!" Naruto shouted, restoring young Hyuuga's resolve to fight.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." She took a deep breath and dashed towards Gaara, who watched her with no interest. Just as Hinata was ready to deliver a gentle fist strike to the Suna boy, a wall of sand appeared in front of him, making the girl jump back.

"I heard that the Hyuuga are of noble blood. Killing you will prove my existence." Gaara said in monotone emotionless voice, sending sand after the kunoichi.

"**Hakkeshou kaiten!**" With a lot of difficulty Hinata performed the jutsu, creating protective dome of chakra around herself. Seeing as seemingly all of the sand was there, attacking her, young Hyuuga again dashed towards her opponent preparing her attack. "**Juuho soushiken!**" She thrust two lion-face-like balls of energy into Gaara's abdomen, but hit just another layer of the sand. Spikes began growing out of this armor, while sand that was sent to attack Hinata not long ago was returning... With another kaiten Hyuuga heiress managed to push Gaara away from her and protected herself from two of his attacks.

"You're good. It was so long since anybody even managed to touch me." Ichibi jinchuuriki spoke. "I want to KILL YOU!!!" He finished in a roar. Impressive wave of sand slammed into Hinata, sending her into the wall. The girl barely rolled out of the way of the second wave and again tried to attack Gaara.

"**Hakke sanjuuni shou!**" But all of her hits met sand armor doing no damage to the unmoving jinchuuriki behind it. He sent another wave of the sand at Hinata, who didn't manage to protect herself from it, and was again sent into the wall. Just as she tried to stand up, another colossal sand wave, the one that could easily crash her, was approaching. Hinata closed her eyes and waited for the painful death. It didn't come. Instead she felt something really hot around herself as well as heard someone growl. Opening her eyes, Hyuuga heiress saw Naruto, with one knee on the floor, holding a dome of purplish fire around them. Sand wave that hit the dome was turned into not presentably looking melted substance.

"Due to the interference on her side, Hyuuga Hinata loses the match. Winner – Sabaku no Gaara." Hayate announced. Ichibi jinchuuriki growled angrily, but then shunshin'ed away from the arena.

"Better than dead, right?" Naruto, trying to wipe the blood that leaked from his left eye before the girls saw it, asked and Hinata weekly nodded. "Let's go." He placed his hand on her shoulder and used dimensional shift to bring them to the balcony. There they were immediately approached by another Hyuuga genin, Neji.

"Hinata-sama, how you allow this... this... _thing_ save you? How could you allow _anyone_ save you?!" Neji asked angrily. "Your father will be told about this. You're disgrace to the clan, Hinata-sama!"

"You have problems?" Naruto asked, looking straight into Neji's eyes.

"Get lost, demon, you have no right to speak to the noble men like Hyuuga."

"If you have problems with me saving my friend..." Blond jinchuuriki was interrupted by Hyuuga boy.

"Hinata-sama, you are friends with this scum? How could you?! How could you destroy the good name of our clan?!" Even being an experienced fighter, Neji wasn't in any way ready to receive a hard slap from Hinata.

"Shut up!" Normally timid girl growled. Neji looked into her eyes.

"Hiashi-sama will know this." Then he walked away. "I want to spend no more time with the traitors of the clan."

* * *

Somewhere else on the balcony two kunoichi were watching everything.

"I'm telling you that he is the pure evil! You saw how he stopped Gaara. You saw how he made Hinata his slave, and now he is destroying Hyuuga clan!" Sakura screeched.

"I'm not believing you anymore." Ino stated. "He saved Hinata's life. And does she look like a slave? No! Naruto is just a normal boy!"

"How can you be so stupid!!!" Pink-haired kunoichi shouted. "There is no Naruto! There is only evil demon hiding in that form!!!"

"No."

"Yes! And if you can't see such a simple thing, Ino-pig, I don't want to be your friend! Go play with the demon! But don't run to me when he shows his real colors!" Sakura pushed Ino away from herself. Blond girl sighed and walked towards Hinata and her savior, maybe they'll be better company than sleeping Shikamaru and whining about food Choji...

"Our third match will be... Hyuuga Neji... versus Uzumaki Naruto, both from Konohagakure no Sato." Hayate announced.

"I will destroy you, scum." Hyuuga boy growled, as he jumped down onto the arena. Naruto gracefully stepped out of the net of black tendrils from dimensional shift on the opposite side from him.

* * *

**Read **and **Review**, comrades!


	7. Chuunin exams, part 3

Hello, everyone. I'm very very sorry for the delay with the updates, but I was kinda busy... Hope, you haven't forgotten the story?

* **Review response**:  
**Hakkyou no Yami**, sorry, no maiming. Yet.  
**raw666**, Sakura will survive for now. But her defeat would be from... dolls. =)  
**bumike99**, **OBSERVER01**, thank you!  
**The Elemental Dragon Emperor**, again, no maiming or permanent damage. Yet. But, I hope, Neji's defeat will be humiliating...

* **Jutsu list**:  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though...)**  
Hakke hasangeki **- (clan jutsu) Eight divination signs, Destructive mountain fist - this is a taijutsu technique utilized by Hyuuga Neji. Extending chakra from his body, Neji will thrust his palm into his target. This will send out a wave of chakra that will knock his opponent backwards.  
**Nikudan sensha** - (C-rank clan ninjutsu-taijutsu) Human bullet tank - Akimichi enlarges his/her(?) body to be spherical, draws limbs and head in, and then this ball of destruction tries to roll over the opponent. The "tank" is really powerful, but has problems with changing directions while rolling.  
**Doton: domu** - (B-rank) Earth style: earth spear - despite it's name, the jutsu is mostly defensive one. Once activated, it will harden user's body, making it much harder to damage. It also increases the damage done by user's strikes.  
**Doton: dorou gaeshi** - (C-rank) Earth style: mud overturn - raises a protective wall in front of user. The wall can be destroyed by powerful strike or drilling attack.  
**Doton: ganchuusou** - (unknown rank) Earth style: rock pillar spears - creates rock spears, nothing more, nothing less.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'

* * *

_**

Special thanks to**_ LZ-35 SRX_** for beta-reading this chapter**_

* * *

_Pyro  
chapter 6: Chuunin exams, part 3**

"Are Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto ready?" Hyuuga boy shifted into classic juuken stance giving a small nod to the proctor. Naruto moved his hitae-ate over his left eye – not everyone had seen his geass eye when he saved Hinata, and he didn't want the rest to know about it – and took almost similar stance, though his hands were held like he had invisible balls the size of big orange in them. Kyuubi jinchuuriki then nodded too. "Then... Hajime!" And with that Hayate disappeared from the arena.

"Die!!!" Neji yelled, as he attacked his opponent with all the speed and strength he possessed. But Naruto blocked his both palms with his own hands, and Hyuuga genius screamed in pain. Neji jumped back and looked at his hands: both his palms now were covered by second degree burns. Looking up, the older boy saw that there were small balls of fire in Naruto's hands. Then Neji raised his eyebrow when he noticed some blood leaking from underneath blond's hitae-ate. "How... how dare you, scum, hurt a noble man from Hyuuga clan?!" Neji asked angrily. "You will pay for this!" Kyuubi jinchuuriki just glared back in response. "So you have nothing to say, demon? Then die! **Hakke hasangeki!**" Hyuuga genius hissed, trying to ignore the pain that came when a strong surge of chakra flowed through his burnt hands. He got ready to see his opponent lifeless, smashed against the wall, but to his surprise, fire in Naruto's hands moved, forming quite a solid shield in front of the blond shinobi, deflecting the attack.

"I do believe it's my turn." Kyuubi jinchuuriki said coldly. The shield of fire morphed into seven orange-sized fireballs. For a moment they just hovered in the air in the places they appeared, but then they shot towards Neji with an incredible speed. Hyuuga boy, not knowing any moves that could protect him from such a fast moving attack, tried to dodge fireballs. And almost succeeded: one fireball still hit his long hair.

"Damn demon!" Neji cursed, trying to remove the fire from his hair. When he finally succeeded in this not-so-easy task, he started thinking. He couldn't use his juuken in the close combat in this fight anymore – burns on his palms made sure of that – also, his ranged attacks seemed to be useless as fire shield the demon could produce easily deflected them. Getting close enough to hit the enemy with a kunai was out of question too, as was ranged fight using weapons. This left Neji with tools. And the first combination that entered his mind was immediately approved. Naruto raised his one currently visible eyebrow as he watched Neji carefully slip his hand into his pouch and taking something out of it. Then Hyuuga boy threw what was in his hand – smoke bombs – under Naruto's feet... Everyone watched closely as Neji then threw kunai with several explosive tags attached in the smoke cloud. There was a powerful explosion then. "Proctor, announce my victory over this scum." Hyuuga genius demanded.

"Oh..." Naruto moaned as he emerged from whatever was left from the smoke cloud. His clothes, especially on the left side were damaged badly, he also had several fresh cuts that were healing at inhuman rate. "Couldn't you throw those to the other side? Now my shoulder will be sore for another day." Neji stared at him agape – no was supposed to even survive such an explosion at such a range!

'_**This is your chance!**_' Kyuubi's voice said in Naruto's head at that moment.

'_I know, Kyuubi-sensei. I will definitely use it._' True, he needed to end this fight soon: he, despite his massive chakra reserves, was merely a minute away from his limit, and his left eye felt like it was damaged rather badly too... He sprang into action, appearing in front of Neji before the older boy could prepare himself for the incoming attack. With a strong, fireless though, punch to his chest, blond shinobi sent his opponents onto the floor. Without pausing even for a moment he created a simple-looking spear of fire and brought down, stopping just an inch away from Neji's forehead. "Give up."

"Like I would allow a scum like you win!" Hyuuga boy hissed. As a response to this, four shackles of fire appeared around his legs and upper arms.

"Give up." Naruto repeated. "Those..." He gestured towards the shackles. "Will shrink and eventually cut your limbs off. You have a minute to chose, what you lose: your shinobi career or your pride." Blond jinchuuriki said in a cold almost emotionless voice. There was a silence for almost twenty seconds, right until the shackles ignited Neji's shirt. The older boy swallowed loudly.

"Proctor... I give up." He said finally, clearly forcing himself to do so. Naruto stopped the shrinkage of the shackles while Hayate nodded.

"As Hyuuga Neji forfeited, winner of the match is Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto sighed, deactivating his geass: if Neji waited for fifteen more seconds or so, the boy would gain a very good chance to win the fight – Naruto's chakra was almost on the limit. Then Kyuubi jinchuuriki turned around and started collecting enough energy to do dimensional shift. Neji, who already got up, decided that he still could kill 'the demon' and tried to attack Naruto's back while the blond was unprepared. But his palm found only tendrils of darkness: he was a moment too late. And he, the genius of Hyuuga clan, collapsed onto the floor of the arena, defeated and humiliated by this... this... this demon.

* * *

Naruto fell against the wall as soon as he brought himself to the balcony next to Hinata. He was completely spent by this fight. And worse, it looked like his left eye was becoming blind from such an active usage of geass.

"Congratulations on winning your match, Naruto-kun." Hyuuga girl said, as she timidly looked at him.

"Thank... you..." Kyuubi jinchuuriki said between his pants as he tried to bring his breath under control.

"Yes, congratulations, Naruto-san." Said Ino, who decided to stand near them as Sakura broke the friendship with her, and the rest of her team weren't interesting to the blond kunoichi at all at the moment. Naruto nodded, acknowledging her, but said nothing, still breathing heavily.

* * *

From this point on, Naruto didn't really watch the other fights. But he still kept the track of who won which match: the forth fight was between Shino and Shikamaru, and young Nara managed to win, albeit barely, his match; next, Kankuro from Suna soundly defeated Sakura and medics spent several minutes on the arena before they could take pink-haired banshee to the hospital; Temari, also from Suna, defeated Kiba; Zaku from Oto was rolled over Choji; Ino lost to Dosu from sound, though she did come close to winning; Lee beat Misumo guy and Tenten won her match against Yoroi.

Now, all victorious genin were gathered on the arena floor, and Hokage announced the rules for the finals. Everyone drew a number from box Ibiki passed then, the numbers drawn determined who got who as their first opponent.

"So, the first fight will be Sabaku no Temari versus Tenten, second one – Uzumaki Naruto against Akimichi Choji, third one – Nara Shikamaru versus Sabaku no Kankuro, followed by Rock Lee against Sabaku no Gaara. The fifth match will be Uchiha Sasuke versus Kinuta Dosu." Hayate announced, before letting Sarutobi say several more words to genin.

// ***** **\\**  
**

Next morning Naruto was making his way to the one of the more secluded training grounds through the village. By some chance, the shortest route to that particular training ground lead through hot springs. And when Kyuubi jinchuuriki was there, he saw large man with long spiky white hair peeping at the women through the hole in the fence, giggling and writing something into his notebook from time to time. The man was a pervert! Grimacing, Naruto kicked man's ass, making him crash face first into the fence, as he walked by.

"Why you, little brat!" White-haired pervert yelled. "I was doing an important research!" suddenly he was hit by a powerful killing intent. Turning around, the man found several angry kunoichi clad only in towels glaring at him... And as man's screams of pain filled the air, Jiraya was beaten into a pulp by a mob of angry women once again...

// ***** **\\

Naruto used the month given to any and all finalists of chuunin exams to develop his skills that weren't the geass usage – after all, if not for the gift of the gray witch, Neji would have killed him in a fight in under a minute, and even Kyuubi's healing powers wouldn't save him. So blond jinchuuriki devoted his time to increase his ninjutsu and taijutsu skills, and the demoness in his navel proved to be a lot of help there. Trying different jutsu, Naruto found out that earth-styled once came easier to him than the rest, so, most likely he had earth affinity. In his taijutsu training, Kyuubi jinchuuriki continued to adapt the fighting style nine-tailed demoness showed him to his pyrokinetic abilities...

In the time when he wasn't training, Naruto was thinking about the fights he will have in the finals. His fight against Choji won't be very hard: sure, Akimichi clan had truly devastating attacks, but all those attacks were either slow, or couldn't be directed very well – you could rather easily sidestep the **nikudan sensha** attack, for example. But after that Naruto had to face either Temari with her very good developed wind affinity, further amplified by that battle fan of hers, or Tenten, who would hit him with something sharp for sure...

Together with Kyuubi, blond shinobi decided, that it would be advantageous for him to concentrate on defensive techniques of the earth style – he had enough of offensive power for now with pyrokinesis. There were no easy jutsu there, all requiring a lot of chakra, but for the blond shinobi it wasn't a big problem. So, in the month before finals Naruto tried to learn **Doton: ****domu** and **Doton:** **dorou gaeshi** techniques. It wasn't complete success, though, as he sorely lacked time needed to perfect these jutsu, but by the end of month both were down on at least passable level. Also, Naruto got down the basics of an offensive earth-style ninjutsu, **Doton:** **ganchuusou**, the rock spears, just in case...

// ***** **\\

Finals would start in three days... It was nighttime, Gaara, like his usual self, was brooding on the top of the roof of one of the taller buildings in Konoha. Suddenly, Suna jinchuuriki caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning around, he saw Oto genin named Dosu.

"What do you want?" The container of the Ichibi no Shukaku asked in his usual emotionless monotone voice. The other boy raised his arm, the one that had some kind of sound-emitting device on it, up.

"I want to prove that my sound is better than your sand." Oto shinobi said arrogantly, but Gaara didn't change the expression on his face at all.

"Then, you will die. Mother wants blood." With these words, the cork flew out of the Gaara's gourd, and sand started seeping out. The moon hid behind the cloud... When it appeared again, it was red, and only one genin of the two was still alive...

// ***** **\\

In the morning, just several hours before the finals were scheduled to start, one green-haired immortal, the gray witch, entered Konoha among other guests of the village. As soon as she was inside village walls, she used some of her code's powers to locate the geasses she spread – there should be only one there... Sensing her target, the gray witch headed to where Naruto, she thought that was his name, was. Green-haired girl soon found blond boy she gave the power to in one of the clearings on one of the forested training grounds. And, sure, there he was, speaking to another girl, the one with short dark-blue hair and pearly-white pupil-less eyes. Becoming silent like a ghost, the gray witch decided to listen to the conversation of those two...

* * *

"Ano... Hinata-chan, what happened to you?" Kyuubi jinchuuriki asked. "You look rather... whipped." It was true. Hinata's body still had many bruises and red dots of juuken strikes from the 'training' her father gave her.

"I-I'm OK... I-It's j-just my f-father was n-not happy a-about me l-losing my fight a-and m-made me train m-more..." Blond shinobi looked at her closely in full concentration. But then relaxed a bit.

"If you say so... But if he mistreats you, Hyuuga he is or not, I will hurt him. You're my friend, Hinata-chan!" The girl instantly became as red as tomato.

"T-T-Thank you, N-Naruto-kun..." She paused. "N-Naruto-kun... I-I remember... w-when you s-saved me from G-Gaara-san... your l-left eye w-was bleeding... Why is t-that?" This statement caught gray witch's attention: immature geasses were in the left eye, and if the geass was damaging this boy, her chances of success with him were becoming slim to none.

"Oh, don't worry 'bout that, Hinata-chan. I just overexerted myself..."He trailed down, clearly wanting to keep his power in a secret. Green-haired code allowed herself to sigh in relief: the boy still could mature his geass and fulfill her wish. Deciding that there was nothing more to her interest there, the gray witch started walking away towards the Konoha stadium: after all, she knew, the boy, Naruto, made it to the finals and she will have a good chance to see his power there...

// ***** **\\

"I welcome you to Konohagakure no Sato, Kazekage-sama." Sarutobi said to the wind kage who entered special balcony of the Konoha stadium. Two Suna jounins were following their leader a meter behind him.

"The pleasure is mine, Hokage-sama." Kazekage answered. '_I finally get the chance to kill you, old man, and destroy your pathetic village._' He sat on in chair prepared for him and again looked at Sarutobi. "I heard that Uchiha heir is competing in this tournament." Hokage nodded. "I would like to see, how he will fare against my genin, especially, againt my younger son, Gaara."

"The only thing I can say, Kazekage-sama, wait and see." Sarutobi answered. "And I do believe that the first match will start in a minute." Leader of the Hidden Sand nodded.

* * *

Down on the are floor, there were gathered eight out of ten genin participants of finals and a proctor. It was said that Hayate had problems with his health – yeah, he was now dead, killed in an enemy attack about seven days ago, but no genin had to know that – so another jounin, Genma, was conducting the finals.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Konohagakure no Sato chuunin exams finals. Before we start, let me announce a change in the participants group." Jounin made a small pause. "As Kinuta Dosu from Otogakure no Sato is unable to attend today's event, he is disqualified, and Uchiha Sasuke from Konohagakure no Sato will advance to second round. There he will meet with the winner of the match between Sabaku no Gaara from Sunagakure no Sato and Rock Lee from Konohagakure no Sato." This announcement raised a wave of indignation as more than a half of spectators were there to Sasuke fight, and his match was ...well, postponed. But as Genma raised his hand tribunes calmed down. "Now, that this unpleasant part is over, let us start. The first match will be between Sabaku no Temari from Sunagakure no Sate and Tenten from Konohagakure no Sato." Jounin announced. Then he said to the rest of genin to clear the arena. "Are the participants of the first match ready?" When two kunoichi nodded, Genma waved away with his hand, announcing "Hajime", before disappearing into the background of the arena. The fight was short but brutal, ending in the defeat of Tenten by the hand of Suna nin Temari. When the team of medics moved the broken kunoichi from the arena, Genma appeared in the center again, calling for next two genins. "Now, to the second match: Uzumaki Naruto versus Akimichi Choji, both from Konohagakure no Sato."

"No hard feeling, no matter, who wins?" Naruto asked as he looked at his opponent. F... Big-boned boy nodded.

"Sure."

"Now, let's show them all what we can do!" Kyuubi jinchuuriki exclaimed.

"Are you two ready?" Genma asked.

"Hai!" Two genin answered simultaneously.

"Then... Hajime!" And jounin again disappeared into the background of the arena...

* * *

Somewhere up in the stands, certain green-haired girl was waiting with anticipation to see the power of the gift she gave to Naruto. She knew, the geass wasn't mature yet, but there was a bit chance she could say how long it will take the boy to make his geass mature, and, then, finally fulfill her wish...

"Please..." She whispered silently. "I need you... I...want to die."

* * *

That's all, folks! **Read **and **review**!!!


	8. The finals and invasion

Hello, everyone, I'm back with the new chapter of the "**_Pyro_**"!

*** ****Review response**:  
**raw666**, C-tsu is such a character that it's hard to say, should you feel sorry for her or not. She's tired of living ("experience gathering" as she says) but also unable to die.  
**Hakkyou no Yami**, Teams will change, so the life for Naruto will be a little easier. But not much - most people don't change over the night. As for staying in the village, Naruto's three only precious people there and still alive. otherwise, he has no ties to the village besides the hitae-ate. But for those three, he will stay.**  
CrimsonAxe**, **OBSERVER01**, **bumike99**, thank you!

*** Jutsu list**:  
**Baika no jutsu** - (clan jutsu) Multi-size technique - Akimichi clan jutsu. Allows user to temporary increase his/her(?) body size and mass.  
**Bubun baika no jutsu** - (clan jutsu) Partial multi-size technique - Akimichi clan jutsu. Allows user to temporary increase the size of a chosen body part.  
**Nikudan sensha** - (C-rank clan ninjutsu-taijutsu) Human bullet tank - Akimichi enlarges his/her(?) body to be spherical, draws limbs and head in, and then this ball of destruction tries to roll over the opponent. The "tank" is really powerful, but has problems with changing directions while rolling.  
**Doton: dorou gaeshi** - (C-rank) Earth style: mud overturn - raises a protective wall in front of user. The wall can be destroyed by powerful strike or drilling attack.  
**Doton: ganchuusou** - (unknown rank) Earth style: rock pillar spears - creates rock spears, nothing more, nothing less.  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though...)**  
Kuchiyose**** no jutsu** - (A-rank) Summoning - Time-space ninjutsu that summons object/animal (requers signed contract with that type of animals) to user's location**.  
Shishi enjin**** - **(B-rank) Four violet flames battle encampment – Creates a purple barrier around an area, those that touch it burst into flames.  
**Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'teleportation' jutsu.  
**Gogyou fuuin** - (A-rank) Five elements seal - This is a fuuinjutsu technique. User forms an elemental seal on each of his fingers, one for each of the following five "elements": water, metal, earth, fire and wood. This seal disrupts chakra control of its target and makes jinchuuriki unable to communicate with his/her bijuu.  
**CC's unnamed shield technique** - CC projects force shield in front of herself. (note: in one of the _**Code Geass**_ spin-offs Lelouch used this ...move)  
**CC's unnamed attack technique** - CC can use her powers to send her opponents flying away from her. Can be used either in opponents in front of her, or just everyone around. (note: in one of the _**Code geass**_ spin-offs Lelouch and CC used forward thrust attack)  
**CC's unnamed wing technique** - CC grow's feathery wings out of her back. (_**note**_: in one of the _**Code geass**_ spin-offs Lelouch used this ...move)  
**CC's unnamed teleportation** - CC can teleport herself at her wish.

**Disclaimer:** still don't own '_**Naruto**_' or any of it's characters... Same with the '_**Code geass**_'.

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

**_AN:_** This chapter is NOT bate-read.**  
**

**Pyro  
chapter 7: The finals and invasion**

"_Are you two ready?" Genma asked._

"_Hai!" Two genin answered simultaneously._

"_Then... Hajime!" And jounin again disappeared into the background of the arena..._ Chouji threw a handful of chips into his mouth, before bringing is hands together in a handseal.

"**Baika no jutsu!**" His body grew twice as large and became almost round. "**Nikudan sensha!**" Then Chouji's arms, legs and head disappeared into his body, completely turning the chubby boy into big round weapon of mass destruction as the 'human tank' started rolling towards Naruto. Kyuubi jinchuuriki immediately performed his own sequence of handseals, before slamming his both hands onto the ground.

"**Doton: doro geashi!**" Twenty inch thick stone wall rose in front of the blond shinobi, but it barely slowed his opponent down, as Chouji crashed through it without much difficulty, forcing Naruto jump away to avoid being hit. "Well, it was worth trying." Blond jinchuuriki moved his hitae-ate onto his left eye, activating his geass simultaneously. Two small balls of fire appeared in his hands. Then these fireballs grew into thick spears, almost solid, before Naruto 'threw' them towards advancing Chouji. Chubby boy tried to change the direction in which he was rolling to avoid fire, but succeeded only in half, as one of the fire spears touched his side, making him lose the control over his jutsu and revert to his normal ...form. Deciding to press his current advantage, Naruto charged forward, hoping to reach his opponent before he recovered.

"**Bubun baika no jutsu!**" Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough, and Chouji landed a hit with his enlarged arm onto his stomach, sending the blond across the arena. Reverting his arm to its normal size, Chouji reentered his 'human tank' mode and started rolling towards Naruto again.

"Damn!" Young jinchuuriki muttered under his breath as he saw Chouji advancing at a high speed. Concentrating, Naruto summoned single 'fireball clone' and, just before he was overrun by his opponent, substituted himself with it. There was an explosion of fire and moments later slightly burned Chouji flew out of it. But the chubby boy recovered still in the air, once again entering his 'human tank' mode and starting another attack against Naruto. "**Doton: ganchuusou!**" Blond teen raised several rock spears, making Chouji's advance slower down considerably. Naruto summoned his fire again, this time sending lots of small fireballs towards his opponent. Chouji immediately canceled his jutsu and quickly used **bubun baika** technique to push himself away from the fireballs' trajectory... Too bad Naruto could control those, so for the next minute or so he made Chouji go through the worst workout in his life. Unfortunately for himself, Naruto made a mistake, and chubby boy managed to approach him close enough for the counterattack.

"**Bubun baika no jutsu!**" Kyuubi jinchuuriki used fire to create shield in front of himself, but it didn't help him much as Chouji still hit him, though now chubby boy was nursing strong burn on his left fist.

"**Kage bushin!**" Two dozens of Naruto's shadow clones appeared and immediately spread around forming a full circle around Chouji. "**Doton: ganchuusou!**" A chorus of voices said as a circle of stone spears rose around Akimichi heir, all the tip directed inside. Chubby boy turned into the 'human tank' and tried to ram his way out of this trap, but Naruto was faster and summoned firewall in front of the spikes. Chouji couldn't pass it without taking considerable damage, which would cancel his jutsus, and without his jutsus he had no way of defeating Naruto. So he reverted back to his normal form.

"Proctor, I forfeit." He announced. Genma shunshin'ed in front of them.

"As Akimichi Chouji of Konohagakure no Sato forfeited, the victor of the second match is Uzumaki Naruto, too from Hidden Leaf village." Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded and canceled the fire and his shadow clones. He then dimension shifted into the 'trap' he created, placed his hand on Chouji's shoulder and dimension shifted again, reappearing with Chouji in the middle of the arena.

"This was a good fight." Blond shinobi said. Akimichi heir nodded, fishing a bag of chips out of his pockets. The two bowed to the audience before walking towards the ladder to the competitors' balcony.

* * *

"The third match will be between Nara Shikamaru from Konohagakure no Sato and Sabaku no Kankuro from Sunagakure no Sato. Please, come down so that we can start." Kankuro thought that he could beat the lazy genius of the Hidden Leaf without revealing his true strength, but he underestimated how genius Nara was, and so he was beaten in under thirty minus. But in the end Shikamaru just gave up, stating that he ran out of chakra. "The forth match will be between Sabaku no Gaara of the Hidden Sand and Rock Lee from Konohagakure no Sato." This fight was very brutal; Lee showed everyone that he was the true genius of the hard work. Too bad, just taijutsu wasn't enough to defeat Suna jinchuuriki... Gaara rose up on his legs shakily as he just survived 'ura renge' move, something that seemed to be impossible for anyone else. He commanded his sand to attack Lee who could barely sit up from being tired to death from the taijutsu move he just performed, be Leaf genin still managed to avoid most of the sand, though it hit his leg hard, wrapped around it, and threw him into the wall of the arena where he lost his conscious. Gaara began approaching his prey slowly, but Genma already checked Lee and found that the boy – obviously – couldn't continue fighting. "Seeing as Rock Lee is unable to continue the match, the winner is Sabaku no Gaara!" Suna jinchuuriki roared angrily in response, and his sand started covering the right side of his body. Seeing this, the false Kazekage, Orochimaru, decided that it was the time to begin. His men, stationed in every sector of the tribunes performed the genjutsu that put civilians and unprepared shinobi to sleep. At the same time the rest of the Sand trio and Suna and Oto ninja that were among the audience launched attack against Konoha shinobi. Smoke grenade exploded in the Kage booth and Orochimaru tried to decapitate old man Sarutobi, but the professor proved once again that even in his late sixties he wasn't Kage for nothing. The two nins began fighting on the roof...

"Sorry, are we late?" Asked Kakashi as he and Sasuke shunshin'ed right into this chaos.

"Just in time." Genma replied a little bit sarcastically. Before two new arrivals could fully understand what was going on, seven chuunins of the Hidden Sound simultaneously attacked Konoha silver-haired jounin, separating him from Sasuke, who immediately became Gaara's target number one. "Sasuke!" Exam proctor shouted. "I give you an A-rank mission! Trick this psycho away from the stadium and defeat him then!" Genma ordered. Sasuke nodded and started running away from the arena. Gaara, not wanting his prey to get away, followed him.

* * *

Green-haired amber-eyed girl, who wasn't affected by the illusion, saw a group of Sound ninjas attacking civilians. And while she didn't care about the people in general, as long as the weren't geass users she created, and people of the Hidden Leaf in particular, the way invaders were killing innocents made something click in her head.

"Stop." She hissed, standing up.

"And who are you, bitch?" asked particularly ugly nin. "Oh, well, we don't care, right. Kill her!" He and his three 'teammates' threw several kunai and shuriken at her simultaneously. The girl just raised her hand and pale-orange shield with bright purplish-pink geass 'bird' in center shimmered into the existence in front of her, making the weapons clang against it and fall down. "W-Wha-?"

"Die!" Another Oto nin yelled as he attacked green-haired beauty from behind, his kunai going straight into her skull. The girl fell down, seemingly dead, but less then fifteen seconds later her right arm moved and ripped the kunai out of her head.

"Damn... It wasn't nice." She muttered, standing back up. "Oh, well, you can't kill me, too bad." She said with a hint of regret, as well as ridicule in her voice. The entire group of Hidden Sound shinobi stared at her in shock - not everyday you come across the immortals.

"W-What a-are you?" She was asked.

"I don't have to answer." She said simply while moving her hand backwards, like juuken users do before some of their more devastating attacks. Then she thrust it forward, ripples of orange energy going from the point where her strike ended. Not a second later entire group of Oto nins were hit by invisible hammer, sending them flying down to the arena floor. "Hmm... Looks like I'll have to enter the fight..." Green-haired girl muttered under her breath as two feathery wings grew out of her back. The right one was coal-black while the left one – snow-white. She was slowly lifted from the ground, before disappearing in a swirl of orange energy...

* * *

"Damn!" Naruto cursed, seeing jinchuuriki of Ichibi no Shukaku following Sasuke. He may not like the stuck up bastard, but if something happened to the precious Uchiha of the village... Kyuubi jinchuuriki bit his finger and flashed through handseals. "**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" In a large cloud of reddish smoke appeared fire bird.

"**What are your orders, master?**" It asked, looking straight into Naruto's eyes.

"Tail those two." Blond shinobi said, pointing at Sasuke and Gaara who were already leaving the territory of the arena. "Assist black-haired one. Make sure he doesn't die."

"**It shall be done.**" Giant bird of fire replied with a bow before taking off and began executing its orders. Naruto send a hail of fireballs at the two enemy ninjas, who were trying to kill some genin spectators. It wasn't enough to kill them, but it still removed them from the fight for good. Suddenly he felt an incoming attack from behind and started dodging, even though he subconsciously knew that he won't be able to evade it completely. But the pain never came, instead there was a loud thump as heavy body crashed into the empty plastic seats to the side. Turning around Naruto saw Ino, who was rubbing her left shoulder. And Suna chuunin who was trying to stand up. Not wasting any time, Kyuubi jinchuuriki put a kunai between man's eyes.

"Ino-san?" Blond shinobi asked. "Why did you help me? I though you hated me?" Yamanaka heiress giggled.

"We're both ninja of the Hidden Leaf, Naruto-kun." She turned around, facing away from him now. "And I don't hate you, especially after you saved Hinata." She did a step away from him. "I'm not much a fighter, so I'm working on evacuation of people. I'll have to go now..." She did several more steps before stopping and turning around. "Be safe." She said with a wink, before continuing on her way back to the sector she was currently helping to evacuate.

"You too, Ino." He turned around, looking for more enemies, and saw old man Hokage fighting pale-skinned man he knew to be Orochimaru on the rooftop, surrounded by the barrier of purple fires that prevented anyone form interfering with their fight. '_Dammit, Sarutobi-jiji! Hold on for a bit longer, I'll help you!_' And Kyuubi jinchuuriki sped towards the said roof.

* * *

When Naruto got there, he saw that the barrier – the '**Shishi enjin**' as Kyuubi helpfully supplied him with the technique name – was help in place by four ninjas of the Hidden Sound that themselves were protected from any attacks by the barrier. And there was at least a platoon of ANBU ready to help Hokage, but doing nothing as the 'shishi enjin' prevented them from joining the fight.

"Go away, genin." ANBU in the lizard mask hissed. "You can do nothing here. Especially with this damn barrier." Naruto shrugged.

"That is exactly the reason why I am here." '_Kyuubi-sensei, can you give me some of your power?_' He asked in his mind.

'_**Yes, I will give you some.**_' Moment later red yoki exploded from Naruto's body, turning his eyes crimson and with slitted pupils, making whisker-like marks on his cheeks become deeper and more pronounced and forming a tailless cloak of energy around the blond. Young jinchuuriki activated his geass and called the fire forth. It went around him, creating another layer of 'cloak' around him. This one, though, having long claws on his arms and legs, horns on his head and a pair of dragon wings behind his back. The heat the cloak of fire radiated was enough to burn through the roof, but Naruto didn't fall down, hovering in the air on his wings.

"**Let's do it.**" Kyuubi jinchuuriki said in a low demonic voice, concentrating his geass on the barrier of purple fire in front of him... Sarutobi, Orochimaru stopped fighting and along with traitorous sannin's Sound four looked at the ripples that went through the barrier. Then it began collapsing onto the center of the ripples. Sound four tried to hold it in place, but the unknown power was too much for them to fight against, and the barrier shattered, all being sucked into the ball of almost black fire that was hovering several meters in front of blond teen surrounded by the cloak of fire. The blood was leaking from his left eye, making his left cheek completely red, but the boy paid no attention to it. "**Go!**" He barked at the ANBU that stared at him dumbly. They snapped from their shock and jumped into the fight to help their Hokage... Seeing that he was now badly outnumbered, Orochimaru decided that the best course of action would be running away.

"Fall back. Everyone meet in fifteen minutes in point D!" Pale-skinned man ordered to his four most trusted warriors before taking to flight. The Sound four tried to do the same, but Naruto sent the ribbons of dark-purple fire at them. Two of the four – the fat man and six-armed teen – managed to get away, two-headed nin wasn't lucky and touched the fire. He was incinerated before he could even blink. The final member of the Sound four, foulmouthed redheaded girl was surrounded by the fire and could do nothing but swear loudly when Naruto left her to the tender mercies of Konoha ANBU... With the power of his geass greatly amplified by the yoki of nine-tailed demoness, Naruto sent several large fireballs after fleeing Orochimaru, incinerating his arm and damaging his legs badly, but sannin just shed his skin, becoming completely healthy again, and continued running away... Naruto sighed and deactivated his geass, only now noticing that he could barely see with his left eye.

'_Hope, this can be healed..._' He also decreased the amount of yoki he was using to the bare minimum, but not stopped using it: his own chakra reserves were almost empty, and he still needed to fight.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi said, looking at the boy that just, most likely, saved him from whatever dirty tricks Orochimaru planned to use to kill him.

"That's OK, Hokage-jiji." Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied. Suddenly there was a flash of yoki, followed moments later by the wave of very concentrated KI. Naruto, as well as the others, looked in the direction from where it came and saw two clouds of smoke. One was big reddish and the other was even bigger white. When the wind blew the smoke away, large form of tanuki that belonged to Ichibi was revealed. "Fuck! This is very bad!" Blond cursed. '_Kyuubi-sensei, we'll need more yoki!_' Without waiting for her reply, Naruto took some of the blood from his cheek onto his hand and ran through the sequence of handseals. "**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" In front of him large cloud of reddish smoke exploded into existence.

"**You summoned me, Naruto Uzumaki, why?**" Deep voice asked from the cloud, which was now disappearing, revealing large creature of the blue flames with lion head and four arm, every one holding enormous swords.

"Yes, Honogyoku-sama. I need your help to fight it." Kyuubi jinchuuriki said, gesturing towards advancing form of Shukaku. The summon laughed.

"**I told you, I am strong, but you must understand that even I'm not strong enough to fight bijuu.**" The head of fire dev summons said.

"We won't be alone." Naruto replied, seeing large toad, Gamabunta, approach the forces of Konoha shinobi that were fighting against one-tailed demon, and several more minor, relatively, summons coming along with the toad boss.

"**Then we may stand a chance. Hop on my shoulder, young summoner.**" Honogyoku said. Naruto did just that. The head of dev summons started going towards the Shukaku, not noticing a large five meters tall dark-green creature with mouths on its hands that was summoned by one of the Suna nins on the floor of the arena. The creature was crashed under mighty step of Honogyoku, allowing protectors of Konoha that fought it to sigh in relief...

* * *

Ichibi who himself was in control of the body just entered the village when he was intercepted by white-haired man riding on the head of giant toad, blond teen on the shoulder of the raja and several jounin and ANBU on large wolf, bear, bull and scorpion.

"What shall we do with this beast?" Jiraya asked loudly.

"**Was Shukaku sealed in someone before it changed into its full form now?**" Gamabunta asked bad, dodging a large mass of concentrated air that was sent at him.

"Ichibi no Shukaku has jinchuuriki named Sabaku no Gaara!" Naruto yelled from his position on the shoulder of Honogyoku.

"**Then, our task is much easier. All we have to do is wake him up.**" Head toad said, blocking Shukaku's claws with his dagger. Honogyoku at the same time caught the beast's enormous tail before pushing it away.

"Let's remove several limb of this thing first!" Jounin on the bull summon shouted. The rest nodded.

"**If you will, Gamabunta-dono?**" Honogyoku said, bringing all of his four arms together; blue hot fire appearing in front of them. Giant toad nodded and then spat a stream of oil at the one-tailed demon. The head of fire dev summons threw his fireball into the oil, while Jiraya the sannin use one of the more powerful fire jutsu. The resulting stream of fire was enough to burn a large hole in Shukaku's body. "**Now!**" Wolf and bear summons together tore Ichibi's right arm, scorpion and bull destroyed beast's left leg, Gamabunta cut its left arm and Honogyoku himself plunged two of his swords into the neck of the one-tailed demon. Using the time wisely, Jiraya jumped into the action, quickly finding Gaara among the sand that formed Shukaku's body and waking him up with a strong punch. Before Suna jinchuuriki could attack him, toad sage had purple flames dancing on the tips of his fingers.

"**Gogyou fuuin!**" As soon as the seal formed itself on Gaara's body, what was left from the Ichibi's body turned back into the normal sand and fell onto the ground. Jiraya threw jinchuuriki's body to the ANBU on the scorpion summon. "Secure him in the holding cells."

"Hai, Jiraya-sama!" Man dismissed his summon and the shunshin'ed away. The victory was short-lived though, as several snake summons attacked village walls in different places. Jiraya, jounins and the ANBU immediately went there to help the defenders fight them.

"**Shall we help them, Naruto?**" Honogyoku asked.

"Sorry, I'm too tired for another fight." Raja nodded and brought his hand to his shoulder. After Kyuubi jinchuuriki hopped onto it, he brought him down to the ground and as blond shinobi stepped from it, the leader of fire devs dismissed himself, disappearing in the bog cloud of reddish smoke. Naruto just felt too tired to even move and fell down onto the ground right where he was standing, asleep. He lay there undisturbed for several minutes.

"Oh, what do we have here?" Asked one of the seven Leaf chuunins that entered the battlefield. "Our very personal demon, completely defenseless."

"We must kill it and finish what Yondaime started while we can!" Another chuunin shouted. "We will be heroes of the village!"

"Yes! Purge the Leaf from this abomination!" The third one said. The group surrounded Naruto. "On three?" Everyone nodded. "One... Two..." But before he could say 'three', in a swirl of orange energy appeared green-haired girl with amber eyes. Energy flashed around her, sending all seven men flying away from Naruto and knocking them unconscious. The girl looked at Naruto, trying to find any life-threatening wounds on his body. Not seeing any, she sighed in relief.

"Looks like I arrived just on time." Picking his body, she spread her black and white wings and flew towards the hospital...

* * *

Now, before you flame me for overpowering Naruto during invasion fights, remember, he's using Kyuubi's yoki which is several times more potent than normal chakra. Plus, yoki-powered geass burned his eye to the point that in nuder one minute clarity of his vision decreased form 87% to 7%. In other words, Naruto's left eye became almost blind.

Anyway, **read** and **review**!


	9. Promotions and new team

Hello, here's the new chapter of "_**Pyro**_" for your enjoyment!

*** Review response**:**  
Sephieroth**, **nobother**, **OBSERVER01**, thank you.  
**Hakkyou no Yami**, Naruto will eventually become the next Jiraya (not in terms of being (super-)pervert!), so he'll be appearing in Konoha only once in a while. But that'll be only in shippuden time... As for the super-powered mode, Naruto will use it more (especially when his geass finally matures). As for our lovely redhead... wait and see.  
**liveto r and r**, I never stopped doing that in the first place =)  
**bumike99**, same here. Actually, up to now one Hachibi was at least somewhat like bijuu should be - we haven't seen Kyuubi fighting much. Hopefully, new chapters will remedy that.

*** Jutsu list**:  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though...)  
**Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'teleportation' jutsu.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own '_**Naruto**_' or any of it's characters... Same with the '_**Code geass**_'.

"speaking"_  
'thinking'_**  
**_letters / notes_**  
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

**_AN:_** This chapter is NOT beta-read.**

* * *

  
**

**Pyro  
chapter 8: promotions and new team**

Naruto woke up in the hospital. As the only bandages on his body he could feel were those on his left upper arm where a needle from the drop counter with nutrition was inserted into his body, the blond jinchuuriki came to conclusion that he passed from the chakra exhaustion. His memories supported that theory too. Sitting up, the container of the Kyuubi looked around. His right eye had a perfect vision as it always had, but the left eye, where his geass currently was, could barely see anything, giving him only hazy images of the world around.

'_**Naruto-kun, I sorry, but even I can't heal such an extensive damage your eye got.**_' Kyuubi said from the seal. '_**Healing such a complex organ as an eye with pure yoki would be less effective and more dangerous than if medical chakra is used.**_' The demoness made a small pause. '_**Even then, the eye was damaged so much that an average human healer can't do much if anything with it. But I heard that thirty years ago there was an outstanding medic Konoha produced: Tsunade Senju, the granddaughter of my first container. If she's still alive, she may be able to heal your eye.**_'

'_Thank you, Kyuubi-shishou. I will ask Old man if I can leave the village for some time and go looking for her._' The blond boy replied. '_Tsunade, from what I heard, is quite famous, so if she were to perish, Konoha would have known_.' Finally, his eyes fell on a note, pinned to the wall by two feathers: black and white. Taking the note, Naruto read it.

_I see, my gift to you is progressing nicely, even better than one would imagine, but it's still not mature, which is what I'm waiting for. Looks like you will fulfill my wish sometime later... Grow strong, mature your power, and we will meet again._

In place of signature, there was a lip print, like it was the previous time he got a note from the gray witch. Then Naruto saw the postscript, blushing heavily as he read it too:

_P.S.: You grew up quite nicely since I saw you last time. Maybe I will ask you another wish, mr. handsome._

**~/ *** \~**

Two floors above Naruto's room, Sandaime Hokage too was in the hospital bed. He may have being Hokage and one of the strongest warriors in the village, but he was almost seventy, and well past his prime. So when he continued fighting invaders after Orochimaru fled the battlefield, he eventually overexerted himself, ending there, in the hospital with a minor case of chakra exhaustion and not so minor physical exhaustion.

"As you can see, Jiraya-kun, I'm getting too old for this position. It seems, it's time for someone younger take the place as Hokage." Sarutobi said to his student, the infamous toad sage and self-proclaimed super-pervert Jiraya.

"I can see, where you are going, sensei. No, I will not be Godaime. I'm not cut for this type of work, plus I have a spy network to run, which will be a little had if I'm constantly stuck doing paperwork in Konoha." The toad sage replied to his old teacher. "But I think, Tsunade may agree if motivated properly." He added then. Sarutobi shook his head.

"I doubt anyone can make her return to the village." There was a small pause. "Plus when she wants to hide, even your spy network will have problems locating her."

"We shall try at least." Jiraya said back. "Give me six weeks. If I can't find her by that time... I will take your hat over, sensei, after someone I personally approve will take over my spy network." Sandaime Hokage nodded.

"I think, we have a deal." He said.

"Agreed. But I want to have one of your shinobi accompany me. The blond genin who summoned Honogyoku-sama to help fighting Ichibi. Naruto Uzumaki, I believe, was his name." Jiraya said, and Sarutobi nodded. He was planning on transferring Naruto to the team seven, sending Inuzuka Kiba to the team eight. And the old man even had a cover story for this exchange in his mind...

"I agree with that, but I can't give him to you in the next two weeks as he will be transferred to a different team right now, and will need time to acclimate." Jiraya nodded.

"OK, but six weeks to search for Tsunade will start only when we leave the village." Sarutobi shook his head.

"Jiraya-kun..." The Hokage said to his student in a reproving tone. "Do you really think of me so lowly?" The toad sage shook his head, making his sensei smile a bit. "So, in two weeks, you and one Uzumaki Naruto will get an A-rank mission to find Tsunade and bring her back to the village." And two men shook their hands...

**~/ *** \~**

The next afternoon, Sarutobi in the wheelchair was rolled into the council chamber by Jiraya. The civilian councilmen, shinobi clan heads, two advisers and Danzou were already there.

"Let this meeting of the council of Konohagakure no Sato begin." Hokage said after all formal greetings were done. "The first point of this meeting is giving chuunin ranks to the participants of the chuunin exams. I would like to promote one Nara Shikamaru to the rank of chuunin for the best tactics and realistic determination of his abilities."

"I second that. Even if he forfeited the match, Shikamaru showed skills that are expected from a chuunin of Konoha." Hiashi, the head of the Hyuuga clan, said.

"Anyone opposing this?" Sarutobi asked. As no one was openly against promotion of Shikamaru to chuunin, there was a voting and by the absolute majority of the votes Shikamaru was given the rank of chuunin.

"I'd like to nominate Uchiha Sasuke, he is obviously powerful enough to be chuunin." One of the civilian councilmen said, immediately being seconded by another.

"I oppose." Chousa, the head of the Akimichi clan, said. "While I wouldn't deny the power Sasuke-san possesses, he lacks other important qualities of the chuunin, the most important being his lack of teamwork." Several other clan heads agreed with him. There was voting, and it happened that Sasuke didn't get promoted.

"Anyone else wants to nominate another genin?" Sarutobi asked. There was a silence. "Then, let's move to the next question of this meeting..." The old man made a small pause. "As you all can see, I'm rather old, and, it seems, the time came for me to step down. I'd like to nominate Senju Tsunade as the Godaime Hokage. And in case she says 'no' – Jiraya agreed to take the position after someone he chooses takes over his spy network." There was another voting, and majority agreed that Tsunade will be the next Hokage if she accepts.

**~/ *** \~**

While Hokage was having a meeting with the council, Naruto himself, already discharged from the hospital, decided to meet someone, he was interested in speaking with. Getting to the ANBU holding cells was quite a task, but as the Kyuubi jinchuuriki pointed, no one is better to understand a demon container than another. So, with an escort of an ANBU cell, Naruto was let to meet with Gaara.

"Hello, Gaara-san." Naruto said when he stopped in front of Suna jinchuuriki's cell. Gaara just looked at him with his emotionless eyes for several seconds.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The redhead stated. "Mother wants your blood, but tells me to be wary if fighting you." The Ichibi jinchuuriki made a pause. "Tell me, why are you so strong?"

"You fight only for yourself, and always alone." Naruto started answering after several seconds of silence. Gaara nodded, but decided to leave his comment until the blond finishes. "On the other hand, I fight with the others, and, during the invasion, I fought to protect people I care about. They are few in number, true, but they are still there. Fighting to protect them gives me strength." The red-haired jinchuuriki gave a first sign of any emotion other than crazy blood-lust as his eyes widened a little.

"I... see." There was another pause. "I have no one to care about other than myself." He stated then. Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"This is where you are wrong, Gaara-san. You have your family, Kankuro and Temari. They may be afraid of you, but they care about you. Care about them in return." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said. Gaara again looked at him for some time, before saying anything.

"You gave me a lot to think over." And then the redhead turned away from Naruto.

"Uzumaki, your time is over." One of the ANBU said. The blond shinobi nodded and waled away, followed closely by the ANBU cell till he exited the building.

**~/ *** \~**

Later that day five people were summoned to Hokage's office. Shikamaru, like always, found everything, including waiting for Kakashi to arrive, to be troublesome. And, for once, Kiba, Naruto and Kurenai agreed with him... Finally, the silver-haired jounin appeared, only thirty minutes late.

"You summoned me, Hokage-sama?" The man asked without stopping reading hid book even for a second. Kurenai scowled at him, but said nothing.

"Yes, Kakashi." Sarutobi said from his seat at the table. "Now that we are all here, let's begin. Kakashi-san, kurenai-san, I saw that you trained your teams well, but the invasion showed that they are becoming a bit overspecialized. Team seven is a team of three trackers, but none of them is a heavy fighter, so, if in future, your team is caught during a mission... We might lose all of them. Team eight, on the other hand, has two heavy fighters. Sakura... well, she hadn't shown any real talent yet. This team can hold its ground against strong opponent, but should the three of them be given a mission to find and destroy someone... The chances of success aren't that good." Hokage paused for a moment. "So, I decided to make an exchange of shinobi between these two teams. Inuzuka Kiba, you will be transferred to the team eight to become their tracker should Kakashi's summons be unavailable. Plus, I think, you, Kiba, will benefit from a jounin who also works with dogs at some level."

"H-Hai, Hokage-sama." Inuzuka boy said, though not really thrilled by this exchange. Kakashi and Kurenai nodded.

"Now then, Uzumaki Naruto will be transferred to the team seven to take Kiba's place..." The silver-haired jounin barely audibly sighed in relief as he will not lose Uchiha from his team. "Naruto is a fire user with potential level Konoha haven't seen in a long time. He will be heavy-duty fighter of the team." Sarutobi looked at Naruto. "Unfortunately, this means should the team be attacked during infiltration or information gathering mission, you will have to stay behind and hold the enemy back, giving your team a chance to escape." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded.

"I accept it." The blond shinobi stated. Kurenai nodded too: what Hokage was doing now made sense to her. Kakashi didn't really care about this whole thing anymore...

"Good." Sarutobi said. "Now if no one is against this exchange..." Kiba wanted to say that now it will be harder for him to get Hinata's affection, but the tone of Hokage's voice was clear that such stupid reason wouldn't be paid any attention at all. "...Then, I would like to have several more words with Shikamaru-san and Naruto-san. Other are dismissed." When the door of the office closed behind Kakashi, the Hokage continued. "Nara Shikamaru, for your performance during chuunin selection exams and, later, during the invasion, you are hereby given the rank of chuunin. Congratulations." Sarutobi gave Nara boy his chuunin vest.  
"Troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered under his nose, but accepted it.

"Uzumaki Naruto, for your performance during chuunin selection exams and during invasion, using my power of the Hokage, I give you on-field promotion to the rank of chuunin. Congratulations." Sarutobi wanted to give Naruto vest too, but was stopped.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama... You are giving me on-field promotion, meaning you working against the council there. I were to wear the vest, it would raise to many problems for both of us. While I accept the promotion, I would like not to wear this sign of my rank." The Hokage nodded.

"Understandable." He gave two boys official documents that stated that they were of chuunin rank and could access all chuunin-level information and buy equipment and clothes and insignia reserved for their rank. "Now, if you, Shikamaru, have no questions to me, I'd like to have several words with Naruto alone, so you are dismissed." Giving the Hokage a troublesome nod, the lazy boy left the office.

"Actually, I have a favor to ask." Naruto said. At Sarutobi's nod, he continued. "You see, my geass strains my left eye, slowly damaging it. Until now Kyuubi was able to heal this damage, but when I attempted using geass while her yoki was running through my body... The damage is too extensive for both local medics and Kyuubi to heal it. Currently my left eye is practically blind, but Kyuubi says that Tsunade may be able to heal my eye at least partially." Hokage smiled a little.

"It's interesting. I wanted you to accompany a student of mine, Jiraya, as he will be looking for Tsunade... So, I take, you accept this." Naruto nodded. "Good. I will give you and him this as an A-rank mission in two weeks as you will need some time to acclimate in your new team."

"That will be acceptable." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said.

"Now then, I think this will be all as I have a lot of paperwork to do." Naruto nodded and left Hokage's office too.

**~/ *** \~**

The next morning Hinata and Shino were waiting for Kiba and Kurenai to arrive at their usual meeting place. The genjutsu mistress arrived soon.

"Hinata, Shino, I have an important information for you. Per Hokage's orders Kiba was switched to the team eight, while we will be getting Uzumaki Naruto as his replacement." Kurenai said as soon as she was there. Shino only nodded, already having deduced Hokage's reasoning for this exchange.

'_Naruto-kun..._' the Hyuuga heiress thought, blushing.

"Good morning." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said stepping out of his **dimensional shift**. He was greeted back by the other three members of the team seven.

"While I'm sure you haven't forgotten each other since the academy, the rules say that we should introduce to each other." The jounin said. "I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, and this team is my first... second..." She paused trying to decided, should the team after the exchange be counted as a new one or not. "Anyway, my likes are genjutsu, roses, my friends and this village. I dislike chauvinists, rapists, perverts and the likes. My hobbies include learning new illusions and growing flowers, especially roses. My plans for the future are..." Kurenai made a small pause. "To find a man that will respect me to settle with and have a family. My strengths are illusions. I'm good at ninjutsu, but my taijutsu and armed combat are only a little above chuunin level." She nodded to Shino, telling him to go next.

"I'm Aburame Shino. My likes are insects, my clan and my friends and people who treat insects well. I dislike those who needlessly harm insects and those who judge the book by the cover. My dream is to become the head of the clan and master all Aburame jutsu while inventing new. I'm good at taijutsu and my clan jutsu. I'm also a good at tracking and survival in the wild." Now it was Hinata's turn.

"My name is H-Hyuuga H-Hinata. I like cinnamon rolls and ...c-certain s-someone." The girl blushed dark red. "I dislike the caged bird seal and my wish is to reunite the branches of the Hyuuga family. I'm... acceptable at my juuken as well as at using my byakugan." There was a small pause, before Naruto started.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are the gray witch..." This made Hinata raise an eyebrow. Somehow, she must have heard legends about her. Naruto nodded to her, telling that he will explain it later. "...fire..." This made Shino a bit nervous. "...Old man Hokage and those who are my true friends, certain redhead, training and... my summons." This made Kurenai ask him:

"You can summon?" The Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded.

"I'm the only current summoner of the fire dev clan. The four-armed lion-headed warrior you might have seen during the invasion is Honogyoku-sama, their boss." Kurenai wanted to ask if he really could summon something as powerful as the boss of the summoning contract, but as Naruto was the only current summoner of this clan, the answer was obvious. "Anyway... I dislike those who can't see past their fears and wrong vox populi. And those who judge without knowing anything about what they judge. My hobbies are training and... training. I'm good at my taijutsu, with my fire, and I can summon. I'm practically immune to illusions, but can't cast any myself." He finished.

"You mean, you're good at fire jutsu?" Kurenai asked. Naruto shook his head.

"No. I'm good with my fire. I possess pyrokinesis ability, meaning I can bend fire to my will." To prove this, Naruto, closing his left eye and activating the geass, created a small ball of fire in front of him. Then he made it fly around other three shinobi using difficult trajectories before return it to hovering in front of himself. The ball of fire, then, turned into the dragon head and soared into the sky, before disappearing. Suppressing his geass, Naruto opened his left eye. "I believe, that was enough for the demonstration of my abilities with fire. Unfortunately, the amount of fire I can control safely at a time is limited, and I try to control more, it damages my body." Kurenai nodded.

"Yes, that was enough... Now that we know each other a bit better, I think, we shall have a training spar to determine Naruto's level..."

* * *

It happened that only Hinata had a chance in defeating Naruto in pure taijutsu. In a full out combat he lost only to Kurenai. Shino wisely didn't fight fire user with his bugs, relying on traps and ninja tools instead. After these spars ended, Kurenai gave them two hours free, before they will take a D-rank to help rebuilding the village after the invasions. After the genjutsu mistress dismissed her team, Hinata approached Naruto.

"N-Naruto-kun... you said that y-you liked the gray w-witch. Isn't s-she is just a l-legend?" The Hyuuga heiress asked. The blond shinobi sighed and shook his head.

"The Gray witch really exists. She saved my life once, when I was ten years old. And... if you can keep this as a secret..." Hinata hastily nodded. "...Here is the proof." Naruto activated his geass, showing it to the girl, before deactivating it some seconds later. "That was a gift from the gray witch. In my case – pyrokinesis."

"O-OK, Naruto-kun." Hinata said rather quietly, blushing a bit.

"And, Hinata, I have something to tell you. This might hurt." The blond shinobi told her. "I know about how you think you feel about me. It's more than quite obvious. But I will say you 'no'. Before you run away crying, let me explain the reasoning." Already sobbing Hinata paused. "You are seen as a princess, actually, you would have higher social standing only if you were Uchiha, Senju or related to a Hokage. I'm, on the other hand, village's nobody at best. If people were to see us going out together, they will think that you are enthralled. I will most likely be killed on spot, while you will either be thrown out of the main family of the Hyuuga clan, thrown out of the clan completely, sent to a psychiatric ward for your life, or even killed too. Do you really want a relationship with such dangers? Forget about it right now. But when you are respectable and a clan leader, if you still have feelings for me, come, we will see, what can be done about that." Hinata wanted to say that he was lying, but her mind was telling her that he was right: people will not accept their relationship. "But it doesn't mean we aren't teammates and friends." Naruto added. The girl nodded, still sobbing a little, and walked away.

**~/ *** \~**

The next two weeks weren't the best for Naruto. Shino and Kurenai were angry at him for what he did to Hinata, even if they understood that he wanted what was best. For the first week every time she was close to him, the Hyuuga heiress got on the verge of tears, but then she did accept his words completely, and as he left her a chance in the future, she started training with abandon to make sure that she will get that chance... Finally, the day for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki to go on Tsunade searching came.

"What will be our mission today, Hokage-sama?" Kurenai asked when her team seven entered the briefing hall. Sarutobi nodded and took one of the scrolls form the table.

"Team seven minus Naruto will be helping the rebuilding of northern merchants' district." The old man paused for a moment. "Naruto was requested by Jiraya to accompany him on his mission to find Tsunade." On queue, Jiraya stepped out of the shadow in the corner of the room. Unfortunately, team eight just entered the hall.

"Why would a sannin ask for such a lowlife when there is an elite like me available?" Sasuke asked with a sneer. "Forget about that loser, take me." The Uchiha boy said in an almost commanding tone then. Moment later he was pinned to the wall by Jiraya's hand.

"Listen here, spoiled brat." The toad sage hissed. "I'm the one, who is paying for the mission, so I can ask for anyone I damn wish!" The large man glared at Kakashi who was about to try to free his student. "I would advise to know your place in this world, genin." The sannin lifted the boy higher, to make his point clear, before freeing Sasuke from his grasp and allowing the Uchiha boy to fall on his butt on the hard floor. "Naruto, get ready, we are leaving in two hours from the western gates." Then Jiraya turned to Kakashi. "I advise you to keep you students in line in front of their superiors, Hatake." And then he disappeared via **shunshin**.

* * *

That's all, folks! Leave me a **Review**!


	10. Something lost

Hello, everyone, here's the new chapter of the "_**Pyro**_" story! Enjoy!

*** Review response** (why there are only 5 reviews per 9th chapter? Am I that bad?):  
**Hakkyou no Yami**, thanks. And, by the way, I think Naruto is generally much more intelligent than Kishimoto portraits him: you need to be clever to survive on your own.  
**nobother**, **doragonculaw**, **bumike99**, **OBSERVER01**, thank you!

***Jutsu list**:  
**Doton: domu** - (B-rank) Earth style: earth spear - despite it's name, the jutsu is mostly defensive one. Once activated, it will harden user's body, making it much harder to damage. It also increases the damage done by user's strikes.**  
Doton: yomi numa** - (A-rank) Earth style: swamp of the underworld - This jutsu creates vast swamp. If someone happens to be where the swamp is created, he will sink and, if swamp is deep enough, may be killed.  
**Rasengan **- (A-rank) Spiral sphere - rasengan is a tight ball of compressed fast-rotating chakra (or yoki) that does tremendous drilling damage.  
**Kuchiyose no jutsu** - (A-rank) Summoning - Time-space ninjutsu that summons object/animal (requires signed contract with that type of animals) to user's location.  
**Katon: Goukakyuu **- (C-rank) Fire style: great fireball - user exhales fire from his mouth.  
**Suiton: suijinheki** - (B-rank) Water style: water encampment wall - defensive jutsu that creates a water wall around user.  
**Shiki fuuin** - (S-rank) Corpse spirit sealing method - summoning Shinigami, user can rip target's soul from the body and seal it away, either in himself, or any other object. If the soul is sealed within jutsu user, both user's and target's souls are eaten by Shinigami, while if the target's soul is sealed in other object, only user's soul is eaten.

_**AN**_: Netsu (jap) = hot, passionate, ardent.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'

* * *

_**

Special thanks to**_ LZ-35 SRX_** for beta-reading this chapter

* * *

**Pyro**  
**chapter 9: Something lost**

Naruto and Jiraya traveled for a couple of days through forests, before stopping at one of the smaller towns of the Fire country. In the evening after their arrival, the toad sage disappeared to the local lake to do some 'research', while the Kyuubi jinchuuriki had a private lesson with the demoness... Next morning though, the sannin approached him.

"Naruto, you impressed me with your ability to summon and, from my sensei's words, your ability to control fire. So I've decided to train you a bit." The blond shinobi nodded, though he felt that there was more than that in the reason why one of the three picked him to pass his knowledge. "Many of my jutsu are toad-based, but seeing that you've already signed another summoning contract, I decided to teach you this." Jiraya formed a ball of chakra in his hand. Naruto, though via Kyuubi's knowledge, knew what it was.

"So, this is the **rasengan**, Yondaime's original jutsu? I do not doubt that it's powerful and all, but it doesn't suit my fighting style, which I do not want to change." The sannin pouted.

"You are turning down one in the lifetime chance to learn **rasengan**?" Naruto nodded.

"As good as it is, it doesn't suit me. Instead, if you still want to teach me something, I'd like to learn your **yomi numa** technique." The toad sage stared at the blond: from what data he had, he thought that the boy had affinity towards fire. Seeing this reaction, Naruto explained. "Despite my pyrokinesis, my chakra is actually aligned towards earth." To prove his point, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki activated the stone skin of the **doton: domu** jutsu for a couple of seconds. This impressed Jiraya enough to forgive Naruto for turning down his initial offer.

"...Alright, gaki. Here are the handseals." The sannin did the set slowly, so that Naruto was able to memorize them. "I strongly suggest that you practice outside the town as only those who mastered this jutsu can control the shape and size of the swamp." The blond shinobi just nodded.

"Thank you."

**~/ *** \~**

In the next six days the two ninja covered about a hundred miles, reaching one of the bigger gambling towns – Jiraya said that Tsunade might have been there recently... In these six days, Naruto managed to successfully summon the swamp of the underworld for the first time. Sure, it looked more like a puddle of mud, but it still was at least something... The sannin left the Kyuubi jinchuuriki to wander through the town while he was searching bars and casinos for any sign of Tsunade being there recently. And even if Naruto wasn't really interested in gambling, he still tried it, out of pure boredom, and it resulted in him getting additional seventy thousands ryo to his finances... Finally, the sun started going down and Naruto decided that it was time to head towards the hotel they were staying at... Unfortunately, this plan was destroyed when two figures in black cloaks with red clouds and with kasa on their heads approached him.

"You are coming with us, Uzumaki Naruto." Said the shorted figure. The other one, with a big bandaged sword on his back, showed his unnaturally sharp teeth. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki eyed the cloaked duo.

"Judging by that sword, you're one of the seven swordsmen of the Mist, Hoshigake Kisame. That means the other one is Konoha's own Uchiha Itachi." The shorter man, Itachi, nodded slowly, while Kisame just bared his teeth more. "If we'd met in other circumstances, I'd say it's nice to see you Itachi-san, but as you are here to capture me..." Naruto assumed his fighting stance as his geass was blazing in his left eye. '_Kyuubi-shishou, I might need to use your yoki for the overcharge again._'

'_**You do understand that it damages your eye really fast?**_' The demoness responded from within the seal. Her container mentally nodded.

'_Our survival comes first._' he felt the Kyuubi sigh.

'_**Fine.**_' At the same time Naruto flashed his chakra and her yoki in a set spikes that could be translated from the Morse code as 'SOS'.

"What a spunky kid." Kisame said, removing the sword from his back, completely oblivious to the message the blond shinobi has sent. "Do you honestly think you can take on both of us?"

"I don't need to." Naruto flashed through a sequence of handseals and before the Mist missing-nin could take his chakra away with the Samehada, slammed his hand onto the ground. "**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" In a poof of reddish smoke a raja appeared. It was almost twice as small as Honogyoku was, standing only twenty five meters tall. It also was leaner and instead of a mane only had reddish-orange hair that barely reached shoulders. That and additional piece of clothing around upper chest led Naruto to assume that this was a female. The raja had a naginata in each pair of her hands and another four on her back.

"**You summoned me, Naruto-san.**" The raja said. "**What are my orders?**"

"We should leave the town and hold our ground against these two until the help arrives." The blond shinobi said. "And how should I call you?"

"**I'm Netsu, Honogyoku-sama's third cousin.**" Being much smaller and lighter than the fire dev boss, Netsu moved a little faster and much more gracefully, and soon they reached a large field outside the town. Several seconds later Itachi and Kisame joined them there.

"Damn... I wasn't aware that the boy is a summoner..." The Kiri missing-nin breathed out. "I think I should remove a couple of leaves from Zetsu with my Samehada for not giving us complete information about the target..." And he attacked the raja on whose shoulder Naruto was standing, but could do nothing as the dev easily overpowered him. Itachi wanted to cast an illusion on their target, but the blond shinobi was clever enough not to look into his eyes...

"**Katon: goukakyuu!**" Uchiha sent a weak fireball at Naruto, but the Kyuubi jinchuuriki simply broke it, rebuilding into Chinese dragon of about thirty meters long, before sending the fire creature at the two missing-nin.

"**Suiton: suijinheki!**" Using the water that was on the field, Kisame created a water wall to protect himself and his partner from being burnt by the fire dragon. "Fuck! We underestimated the boy. It's time for us get serious!" And the shark-man started preparing for one of his more powerful attacks, but was stopped."

"No need. I can feel Jiraya-sama approaching our location. We can't win the fight if he helps Naruto-kun, so, for this time, we will retreat." Kisame scowled, but followed his partner's suit and left the battlefield via **shunshin**. Moments later the toad sage ran into the field.

"What happened, Naruto? I though you needed my help." He asked.

"Yes, I needed it. But they ran when they felt you approaching." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki explained to the sannin.

"And who they were?" the toad sage asked. "Who attacked you?"

"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigake Kisame." Jiraya almost fell on his arse form this piece of information.

"Akatsuki are on the move? I need to inform Hokage-sama as soon as possible..." While the white-haired sage was muttering something about the organization of S-rank missing-nins, Naruto turned to his summon.

"Thank you for you assistance, Netsu-san." He said, before hopping down onto the ground from her shoulder. The raja, instead of disappearing in a poof of smoke, made a ram handseal with both pairs of hands, before shrinking to a smaller form. She was just two and a half meters tall now, her face became much more human and her chest – surprisingly – grew a bit, though still only B-cups now. Both Naruto and Jiraya raised their eyebrows at what Netsu did. She approached the blond shinobi and placing her upper right hand on his shoulder, leaned forward and looked into his eyes.

"**If in a couple of years you will want to play around, young fire bender, know, for you I'm a willing girl.**" And after giving him a smile with her eyes, she bent backwards and stretched, giving him a view up her top. Then she blew Naruto a kiss, before returning to her 'normal' height. "**Ciao.**" And Netsu disappeared in a poof of reddish smoke, leaving madly blushing Naruto and nosebleeding Jiraya behind. Though, the toad sage had a calculating look in his eyes, most likely thinking about how popular the book based on this will be...

"Do you know how much I envy you right now?" The self-proclaimed super pervert asked.

**~/ *** \~**

It turned out that, despite his perverseness, Jiraya managed to dig up some info about Tsunade in the city. The female sannin was here about a month ago and left via the Southern road, meaning that she most likely had headed towards Tanzaku Gai. So, the toad sage marked that city as their next stop in search for his old teammate... Eight days later two travelers reached their destination, and Jiraya started collecting the info about Tsunade there. It turned out that had they arrived four days earlier, they might have met with the illusive healer. But no one knew in which direction the slug sannin left the city, so, excluding the road she arrived there, there were two possible directions she traveled. One was the road to the Fire country capital city, the other led into River country. Naruto picked the second one, and was right, as in the second village along the road in a small tavern they ran across a busty blond woman with her hair in two pigtails. The said woman, who traveled with her dark-haired apprentice Shizune and a pet pig Ton-ton was quite surprised when Jiraya and a blond boy sat across from them.

"Long time no see, Jiraya." Tsunade said, though everyone who could hear her could say that she wasn't all that happy to see her teammate. "How are you today?"

"Same old, same old." The toad sage replied. "And I see you too are well."

"What brings you to this remoteness?" The slug sannin asked, looking straight into her teammate's eyes.

"Straight to the point? Well..." Jiraya made a pause to take a sip of sake. "Well, I think you might have heard about what happened at the chuunin exams this year?" Tsunade nodded. "Sarutobi-sensei feels like he became too old for the hat..."

"And so, they want me to take it from him?" Jiraya nodded slowly. "Are they out of their mind? Do they really think I will take that shitty job? A job where you have only a quarter of chance of living till your retirement? And constantly dealing with the fools that the village spawns? Thank you very much, but I have better things to do. And if you will try to persuade me to come back to the village, you will only waste your time!" And then she stormed out of the tavern. Naruto jumped from his seat and followed her. "Gaki, I said that you are wasting your time."

"I'm not going to persuade you to take Hokage's hat or even to return to the village." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki stated. "I have a personal business with you." Tsunade immediately went into her business mode.

"What is it?" She asked. Naruto took a deep breath.

"My left eye was damaged beyond what the healers at Konoha hospital can heal, so ...someone advised me to ask you to look whether you can do something or not. I currently have one hundred and thirty four thousands ryo on myself. If needed, I can get about four more hundreds, though that will require me to go to Konoha." The slug princess though for a moment.

"What you have with you should be enough... Now, let's see, what's wrong with your eye..." Green glow enveloped her right arm and she started diagnostics. "My God, what did you do with your eye?" She asked, a bit surprised by the extent of the damage.

"The damage to the eye is the side effect of my ...power. Normally it doesn't do much and it can be healed in Konoha, but during the invasion I had to overcharge the power." Tsunade nodded a bit absentmindedly.

"And... What is your power and what made you use the overcharge of your power?" She asked after a couple of seconds of silence.

"My power is the pyrokinesis and I had to use the overcharge to save Hokage-jiji from the Orochimaru's trap." The female sannin gave him a strange look.

"So you are the reason the old jerk is still kicking? Wouldn't know why did you waste your health to save someone who wears that stupid hat!" That was the last straw. Naruto jumped back, his geass blazing in his left eye and the fire burning around his hands.

"You may affront the Hokage position in general, that is your right. But when you do the same with one of the few people in the village, whom I care about... I will retaliate." Tsunade laughed.

"You are a century too young to do anything to me!"

"Senju Tsunade. Know throughout the Elemental nations for her achievements as the med-nin and for her titanic strength... I may not be able to match your speed or strength, but..." Despite Kyuubi's protests, Naruto drew he yoki, entering his overcharged mode for the second time. "**...How will you fight someone you can't touch?**" He finished in a low, demonic voice. Tsunade, though, stood there shocked by the feeling the boy in front of her, who was hovering above the ground on a fiery wings, radiated... Finally, several seconds later, she snapped out of her trans.

"Who are you?" She demanded. Naruto just looked at her, mostly impassively. "Tell me who you are, or I will beat the answer out of you, no matter what!" She tried again, this time adding her best glare.

"**I'm Naruto Uzumaki.**" The blond responded, ignoring the feeling of how the blood was oozing out of his left eye. Tsunade froze in shock, even ignoring the human blood in front of her. Then she fell onto her knees.

"Impossible... This is impossible..." She said barely above the whisper. "You DIED!" She suddenly roared. She hit the ground, causing the stony waves rise underneath Naruto. But those were turned into the nothingness by the heat before they even touched the fiery 'cloak' around the young jinchuuriki. Said jinchuuriki simply raised his eyebrow at what was going on.

"**I assure you, I'm quite alive.**" He stated.

"Show me the seal. And if you happen to be the imposter, you better pray to whatever God you believe in that he will spare your soul from my wrath in the afterlife." The slug sannin stated coldly, releasing waves of the killing intent that – what it felt like – could make the Ichibi piss itself from fear. Naruto suppressed his fiery 'cloak' and, after unzipping his jacket, lifter his T-shirt, showing the seal on his stomach to the woman... Tsunade might have been not very good with seals, but she immediately recognized the **Shiki Fuuin**. The seal only three men in Konoha could use. Using this seal killed the one who applied it, and two out of the three fuinjutsu masters who could use it were alive... The seal on Naruto's stomach was placed by Yondaime himself... "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." The female sannin whispered with tears flowing freely from her eyes, before she, still on her knees, bowed to the ground, shocking the hell out of everyone.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked, making Tsunade look up.

"Naruto... please, forgive me... I didn't know... They told me... Forgive me for not being there..." The blond shinobi still couldn't understand what was going on. Shizune, who recovered from shock a bit, came to his help and tried to explain. At least what she herself could understand...

"Konoha was a painful place for Tsunade-shishou. She lost her brother and her fiance, my uncle, there. She left the village then, but returned when Yondaime asked her to be the godmother to his child. But after the Kyuubi attacked, ANBU approached her and told that her godson died. After that Tsunade-shishou swore to never set a foot into Konoha again..." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki was taken aback at how much the slug princess had lost, but something was disconcerting him...

"Wait a minute... She's the godmother to the Yondaime's child. Why would she say that wasn't there for _me_... Wait! Are you telling me that I'm the son of the Yondaime Hokage?" Then he remembered what the Kyuubi told him the first time they met: '_Just remember that sometimes thing are hidden in the plain sight_'. In the plain sight indeed... He was looking at his father's every damn day and, while he had slight suspicions, he had no solid proof before.

'_**Now I can tell you the whole truth about what happened on the day you were born.**_' The demoness said from within his mind. '_**You know already, who my first container was. Now, my second container was Uzumaki Kushina, your mother. The seal they used to keep me at bay, though, wasn't perfect and was greatly weakened at the moment of the childbirth. That is when the masked man, Uchiha Madara, attacked, forcing me to brake from my cage and start wrecking havoc in Konoha. Your father fought Madara first and drove him away and destroyed his control over me, and then sealed me into you.**_'

'_So... My mother too died that night?_' Naruto asked. He felt the Kyuubi shook her head.

'_**She was a strong woman, and survived me breaking free from the seal. And even held me immobile while your father was summoning Shinigami-sama. And now she is neither alive nor she is dead. She is sealed within you, her conscious at least. But I do not know where she is or how to access her...**_' The Kyuubi told him. And it was too much for the blond jinchuuriki, as he sank onto his knees next to Tsunade and broke into sobs...

* * *

Naruto woke up in one of the tavern rooms for the guests, as he most likely fell asleep in the street. Oh, and his left eye was mostly healed. The vision wasn't perfect, but it was at very least seventy percent... Turning his head, he saw Jiraya sitting in the armchair and writing something in his notebook, giggling from time to time. There was a knock on the room's door and, couple of seconds later, just enough for the toad sage to wipe the blood form under his nose and hide the notebook, Tsunade walked in.

"I came to the decision. I won't take Hokage's hat, but I will return to Konoha. There's a major ass-kicking I need to do. You may even run there before me and tell those who deceived me that the beating I gave you for peeping on me would feel like a light massage compared to what I will do to them." Jiraya noticeably paled, most likely remembering what the slug princess did to him. Then she turned to Naruto. "I know you're awake. I healed your eye to the best of my abilities..."

"Thank you, 'baa-chan." Tsunade frowned, not really happy with how he called her, but let it slide for this time.

"Anyway... I know that it's bad for me to take your money for healing you, but I need some money right now..." Naruto nodded.

"OK... I'll give you your one hundred and thirty thousands."

"And do not call me 'baa-chan' again if you want to stay away from the hospital." The killing intent Tsunade radiated made the Kyuubi jinchuuriki nod, just to avoid her wrath.

* * *

That's all folks! leave me a **review**!


	11. Clash of powers

Hello, everyone, here's the newest chapter of the "_**Pyro**_" story! Enjoy!

*** Review response**:  
**InTheYearOfTheCat**, is that a threat? ...KGB...  
**Vendetta419**, Naruto will change Tayuya (obviously) and C.C. (if you remember her wish, and then look at the pairing, it's obvious too.) Others? dunno.  
**ogihcI ikasoruK**, ^_^  
**RE5 forever**, maybe yes, maybe no, who knows...**  
Paul Namikaze**, **doragonclaw**, **OBSERVER01**, thank you.  
**nobother**, Naruto will eventually learn about Jiraya being his godfather... Inheritance, what inheritance?  
**Hakkyou no Yami**, I needed that... Sorry if that wasn't the best moment of the story... Netsu won't have any _action _in the story. Despite her continuous attempts to get some.  
**jmg1988**, Naruto and Tsunade are nothing more than **clansmen **through Uzumaki line - they are separated by - what? - 5 generations or more... Such pairing isn't even considered to be incest. As for the rasengan, well, Naruto's close combat is built much like Hinata's twin lions jutsu moves - they are flowing attacks, while rasengan is a single forward thrust. Plus, tell me, how many stories there are where Naruto doesn't learn the rasengan?**  
Tatamae**, No one forces you. Don't like - don't read.**  
Psudocode Samurai**, Tayuya will permanently join our blond in the next chapter. And after what I had put her through, she'll be anything but abusive ([SPOILER] _Ibiki_). And Naruto will not file her into the same category as the most of the villagers, because of how they ...well, come together. Hinata will NOT know about that.

*** Jutsu list**:  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though, but generally can allow further transportation than shunshin... May as well be counted as an advanced version of the 'body flicker')  
**Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'Teleportation' jutsu.**  
Kuchiyose**** no jutsu** - (A-rank) Summoning - Time-space ninjutsu that summons object/animal (requers signed contract with that type of animals) to user's location**.**  
**Suiton: taihoudan** - (?-rank) Water style: large projectile - User spits a stream of water towards the target.  
**Doton: dorou gaeshi** - (C-rank) Earth style: mud overturn - Raises a protective wall in front of user. The wall can be destroyed by powerful strike or drilling attack.  
**Doton: ganchuusou** - (unknown rank) Earth style: rock pillar spears - Creates rock spears, nothing more, nothing less.

*** Poll**:  
I'm starting a new poll for this story. The question is: What should I do with Sakura Haruno?  
1. Kill her during the "Sasuke running away to Orochimaru" arc - 11 votes so far  
2. Maim her during the "Sasuke running away to Orochimaru" arc - 9 votes so far  
3. Land her into the hospital, but otherwise leave her be - 1 vote so far

**Other notes**: _kasa _is a bamboo hat like those Akatsuki members wear.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own '_**Naruto**_' or any of it's characters... Same with the '_**Code geass**_'.

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'

* * *

_**

**_AN:_** This chapter is NOT bate-read.**  
**

* * *

**Pyro  
chapter 10: Clash of powers**

Naruto, surrounded by almost visible fiery aura of anger, stormed towards the Hokage's office. Equally angry Tsunade was several steps behind him. Jiraya happened to be wise enough to hide somewhere for the time being. Sandaime's secretary too felt that it won't be a good idea to try to stop these two now and just continued reading her magazine, just pressing a button to notify elderly Hokage that he had visitors... It was a good thing as it might have saved old man's life: who knows what these two would have done had they caught Sarutobi reading certain orange book written by one of his students...

"Old man, why were you lying?" The Kyuubi jinchuuriki shouted as he burst into the office, releasing enough killing intent to make the Hokage flinch. Tsunade _agreed_ to wait her turn for interrogating the elderly Hokage. "Why were you lying that you don't know who my parents were?" Taking a deep breath, Sarutobi Hiruzen answered.

"I had to lie for your protection, Naruto. You were young and I was afraid that you won't be able to keep the secret. Your parents had a lot of enemies who wouldn't hesitate to harm you." The blond shinobi calmed down a bit, but still was flooding the office with his killing intent.

"And when were you going to tell me?" He asked the Hokage.

"You are to be given the information about your mother either on your sixteenth birthday, or when you become chuunin, whichever happens first. And you would have been told about your father on your seventeenth birthday or once you attain the rank of jounin, but I take it, you already know who your parents were?"

"_She_ told me." Naruto said, referring to the demoness he was containing. "You've promoted me to chuunin, _Hokage-sama_. Why wasn't I told about my mother at least?" Sarutobi sighed again.

"Honestly, I forgot. With this whole mess after the invasion, I just had too much on my mind. Please, forgive me, Naruto." The blond shinobi sighed and shook his head, finally stopping radiating the killing intent.

"I see..." There was a short pause. "I will forgive you, _Hokage-sama_, but for the time being, I'm really angry with you." Another pause. "If I am dismissed..." Sarutobi nodded. Naruto turned around and walked up to the doors. "Oh, and my godmother also wants to ask you a couple of questions." He stated, before leaving the office. The Sandaime Hokage paled: when Tsunade was angry, she could scare anyone, and if his gut feeling was right, she was as angry as Naruto was... His feeling was proven correct when the female sannin stormed into his office moments later.

"Now, _sensei_, tell me why was I lied to?" Sarutobi sighed: he desperately needed aspirin...

**~/ *** \~**

It was a week since Tsunade returned to the village. So far she was doing all that was in her power to find out who made an ANBU lie to her about Naruto being dead all those years ago, as Sarutobi wasn't the one... The relationship between the blond shinobi and the Hokage was still strained, but they saw each other only during mission briefings, so there wasn't much problem there...

Naruto and his team entered the Hokage tower, heading to the briefing hall for their new mission, when they met team eight...

"Dobe, give me your power." Sasuke said, glaring at the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

"Yeah! Give it to Sasuke-sama. He's the only one worthy of it!" His pink-haired cheerleader yelled, much to Kiba's discomfort... Kakashi paid no attention to what his genin were doing as he was reading the 'icha-icha' book. Naruto looked at the dark-haired avenger.

"No." The blond said rather coldly.

"I order you to give me your power, dobe." Sasuke demanded, raising his voice a bit.

"First, you have no right to demand anything from me, genin." The young jinchuuriki ignored Sakura's yells of disagreement with this statement. "And, second, it is impossible anyway." And the blond shinobi walked away to catch up with his team, paying no attention to fuming Sasuke. At least Uchiha was clever enough not to attack fellow ninja in the Hokage tower...

* * *

The new team seven under jounin-sensei Yuhi Kurenai entered the briefing hall. Unlike what it normally was, Hokage, it seemed, had already selected a mission for them.

"Good morning." The four ninja of the team seven bowed politely, returning the greeting. "And here's our tracking team... There is a mission that I want to give you. Recently, there were a reports of a band attacking towns in the north regions of the River country. As local militia can't stop them, there is a reason to think that the band has members with ninja training. Your mission would be to track down the band and, if possible, eliminate them. This is a B-rank mission." Sarutobi said.

"We accept this mission, Hokage-sama." Kurenai said, taking the scroll with more mission details from the elderly village leader. After she finished reading she turned to her three subordinates. "Go pack for a month long mission. Meet me at the western gates in three hours." She waited for Sarutobi to nod, giving her the right to command in there. "Team seven, dismissed." Three secondaries nodded and disappeared from the briefing hall, either via **dimensional shift** – Naruto, or just by walking through the doors – Hinata and Shino.

"I take it, you have something else to discuss, Kurenai-san?" The Hokage asked. The genjutsu mistress nodded.

"Yes. I'd like to file a complaint on Uchiha Sasuke for overstepping his official authority in demanding a _chuunin_ under my command to give him his power, going as far as trying to order my subordinate to do so." The elderly Hokage nodded, while writing something in his notepad.

"I take note of this, Kurenai-san." He said. "But even if I am the Hokage, I'm afraid, there is only so much I can do about this. The council, unfortunately, hold too much power regarding ninja matters currently, and they wouldn't like their_ precious Uchiha_ getting punished for anything..." The sensei of the team seven sighed, knowing full well that with how much the council was spoiling that brat: he won't even get a slap on his wrist for the misdoing.

"Still... Do what you can, Hokage-sama." Sarutobi nodded.

"I will... Now, if that's all, you can go, Kurenai-san, dismissed." And the genjutsu mistress **shunshin**'ed to get ready for the mission...

**~/ *** \~**

Four days later the team seven arrived into the town in the River country that was attacked last – from the message that was sent to Konoha – by the mysterious band they had to track. The four ninja headed straight to local major's office, but the man wasn't there. Instead, he was personally supervising the dismantling of the destroyed houses on the outskirts of the town...

"Good afternoon, Konoha shinobi. It's good to see you there so soon." The major, short and bald man who was close to his sixties, said hastily, as he pattered towards the approaching ninja team.

"Good afternoon, major-san." Kurenai said with a small polite bow. "We are here to try to solve your bandit problem." The major nodded.

"Oh, yes, yes, bandits... They attacked us six days ago, took a lot of our food from the warehouse there and then destroyed the rest... The Minoguchi Gai and Hasumachi Gai towns report that they were attacked a little after us, presumably by the same group of bandits." He said as hastily as before. Kurenai nodded to herself as she evaluated the situation. It was too late for Shino to use his bugs to try to find the bandits by the chakra residue. But on the other side, the two other towns that were attacked were rather close from this one and it was possible that the bandits had a base somewhere not far from here. Hinata's byakugan, despite its ability to see everything within three miles in each direction, wouldn't be a lot of help either as they'd need to check thousands of square kilometers of forests... Still, they needed to find those bandits somehow...

"We will do what we can about it." The jounin said finally.

"Kurenai-sensei, I think we should use aerial reconnaissance. This way we'd be able to check large areas for possible camp locations in a short time." Naruto suggested. The idea was sound, if you don't count the moment that Kurenai didn't know how to do this with what they had.

"But..."

"Kurentai-sensei, I will summon firebirds for the task." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki reassured the jounin.

"Naruto, you can summon birds too? I thought your summons were big four-armed creatures with lion heads." The blond shinobi smiled.

"Actually, I can summon fire devs of all kinds, including firebirds. What you saw during the invasion was a contract boss, Honogyoku-sama, who is raja." The genjutsu mistress nodded.

"Well, then. Proceed." Naruto bit his finger and flashed through handseals, before slamming his hands onto the ground.

"**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" A giant cloud of reddish smoke exploded into the existence around him... When the smoke was blown away, four giant birds made from red fire, each having a wingspan of about sixteen meters, were surrounding the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

"O-OK..." Kurenai said a bit surprised that chuunin in front of her could do something like this. "Each of us will take a bird and scout an area..." Using a rough map of the northern River country, the genjutsu mistress showed her subordinates zones where they were supposed to look for a signs of bandits' camps. "Return here in three hours. We will form a plan of our further actions from there, depending on the results of the information gathering. Go, go, go." She, Shino, Hinata and Naruto picked themselves a bird and took of for the aerial reconnaissance...

* * *

Three hours later, the team seven reassembled on the outskirts of the town. As soon as all four ninja were standing on the solid ground, Naruto canceled his summons, returning the firebirds to where they came from.

"Report." Ordered Kurenai.

"No signs of any bandits' camps found in sectors A through F. Possible routes between local towns through the forests are like this..." Said Hinata, giving a hand-drawn map to the jounin.

"Found abandoned camp in seven kilometers from Naraku Gai. No signs of bandits in sectors N through S either." Added Naruto.

"Three more abandoned camps in sectors G through M." Kurenai reported the results of her own reconnaissance. Everyone looked at Shino.

"Bandits' camp in sector U. Seven men present. Judging by the effectiveness of their attacks on the local towns, it's logical to assume that they all have ninja training." The bug user reported.

"Good work, Shino." The genjutsu mistress said. "We will retire for tonight and tomorrow we will attempt to close in to these bandits."

"There is no need for that, Kurenai-sensei." Naruto interjected. "My chakra reserves are at about eighty percent right now. If I use a soldier's pill now, they would be full by the time we reach the camp. And it's less than five in the afternoon right now. We still can attempt to approach and, if possible, eliminate them today." The red-eyed jounin nodded.

"Very well. In that case, let's go. Shino, lead the way to the camp you found."

**~/ *** \~**

It took the four ninja from Konoha about an hour to reach the 'sector U' where Shino had spotted bandits' camp. And even before they could reach the location where the camp itself was spotted, they were met by a group of three. Two of the three were males in late teens, dressed in a similar outfits, consisting of kasas, gray jackets and pants. The third one was, presumably, the leader of the band himself. He was a man of about thirty five years old, average in height, with short spiky brown hair. He was wearing sunglasses and light gray cloak over gray jacket and pants. The most prominent detail about him, though, was a tattooed kanji 'shield' on his left cheek.

"So, these are those little flies that found us?" The 'leader' said aloud. His comment made Shino lose his cool for a moment – the Aburame heir was deeply offended when someone belittled insects... Kurenai studied the man for several seconds, before she finally recognized him.

"Damn... This is yousai no Irakusa, an A-rank missing-nin from the Hidden Grass village. If he was alone, we might be able to defeat him without any casualties on our side, but as the things are right now..." She made a small pause. "Naruto, I'm sorry, but it looks like you will need to hold him back..." The blond jinchuuriki nodded.

"It's my job to ensure the survival of the team." He stated with barely a hint of emotions.

"Oh, no, no, no, I can't let go, knowing, who I am. Makoto, Ataru, attack!" Irakusa commanded. The duo in kasas quickly did a set if handseals.

"**Suiton: taihoudan!**" They spat two balls of water towards the team seven simultaneously. Seeing that, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki flashed through his own set of handseals, activating his geass and summoning sparks from the seals on his palms at the same time.

"**Doton: doro gaeshi!**" A wall rose from the ground, protecting the four Konoha ninjas from water jutsus, while three fire dragons sped towards the three bandits. One of the kasa-wearing duo was hit straight on his chest and incinerated on spot, while his partner barely dodged. Irakusa himself was protected from the fire by almost invisible shield made form chakra. "Run!" Naruto shouted to his teammates. Kurenai nodded, and she, Shino and Hinata started running away.

"A-a, I can't let you do that." The Kusa missing-nin said, sending two valleys of 'shields' towards the retreating shinobi. Naruto's earthen wall was destroyed by them, but the young jinchuuriki was quick enough to block this strange attack with a wall made from fire. Needing to buy his teammates a little more time, before they will be at the safe distance from these men, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki split the remaining fire dragon into four, directing three of them to attack the Kusa missing-nin from different sides, while distracting the other bandit with the forth. As the man in kasa was trying to dodge the fire, the blond shinobi threw a kunai with explosive tag at his head, killing him too... Irakusa didn't move an inch as three fire dragons approached him from different sides – he didn't need to, as three shields of chakra appeared around him, protecting him.

"**Doton: ganchuusou!**" The Kyuubi jinchuuriki yelled as he, dropping the firewall, slammed his onto the ground, making several rock spears rise from underneath his opponent. Unfortunately, those shields protected the man again. This was a damn absolute defense, much better than Gaara's sand! Irakusa sent a new valley of 'shields' at Naruto, forcing the blond to roll to the side to avoid being hit.

"You know, little fly, I'm honored to fight you. After all, there are only so many of us there..." The Kusa missing-nin said suddenly. When Naruto looked at him, he lowered his sunglasses, showing the Kyuubi jinchuuriki his eyes. Geasses. In both eyes...

**~/ *** \~**

Team seven, now one member short, headed straight to the Hokage tower, once they checked at the village gates. Thankfully, The Hokage was unoccupied at the moment, so they reached his office without any delays.

"Kurenai-san, team seven?" The elderly village leader asked, a bit surprised to see them back at the village so soon. "Report."

"Mission was a partial success: we managed to find out a presumable leader of the bandits that raided River country's town, Irakusa the fortress, an A-rank missing-nin from the Hidden Grass, but we were confronted by him and two of his henchmen and had to flee." Seeing the upcoming question about the final member of her team, the genjutsu mistress continued. "Naruto stayed behind to fight him, buying us some time, but I'm afraid, the chances of his survival against such opponent are close zero." Sarutobi slowly nodded.

"I'm afraid, you are right there... But knowing Naruto, he might pull some trick and survive the encounter. I will send an ANBU cell to find him and eliminate the bandits. For now, unfortunately, Naruto will be listed as Missing In Action..."

* * *

Ten days later the ANBU cell returned from the River country. They found bodies of Irakusa and two of his men at the location that the team seven gave them. They also found the four other bandits from the group, all dead, at another location nearby. But there was no sign of Naruto, dead or alive, anywhere... And as two weeks since he went MIA had passed by now, Sarutobi had to list the Kyuubi jinchuuriki as Killed In Action.

* * *

That's all folks! Leave me a **review**!


	12. The survivor

Hello, everyone, here's the newest chapter of the "_**Pyro**_" story for your enjoyment!

*** Review response**:  
**Hakkyou no Yami**, C.C. will interfere from time to time, but she will actually 'join' Naruto only after the timeskip. And I decided to choose the (rare) course of action about our favorite blond and the village: Naruto the spymaster. But you could gather as much from the chapter.  
**Sephieroth**, yes, I'm evil. You didn't know?  
**DeExil**, the council will be burnt. But all in due time...  
**nobother**, **OBSERVER01**, **god of stuff**, **UMMX**, **Sephiroth owns u all**, thank you, folks!  
**Psudocode Samurai**, ^_^. And don't worry, they will.  
**Reishin Amara**, Naruto's geass will get a lot more moves after the timeskip, but for now - he has what he has. BTW, thanks for two new geasses to use, should I chose to.  
**ogihcI ikasoruK**, =) Thank you.  
**DragonMasterFlex**, the blood will flow, be sure of it. And I agree, I made the council outlive their usefulness.  
**nxkris**, like I said to **Hakkyou no Yami**, C.C. will appear from time to time in the nearest future, but she won't "hang around with" Naruto until after the timeskip.

*** Jutsu list**:  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though, but generally can allow further transportation than shunshin... May as well be counted as an advanced version of the 'body flicker')  
**Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'Teleportation' jutsu.  
**Doton: ganchuusou** - (unknown rank) Earth style: rock pillar spears - Creates rock spears, nothing more, nothing less.  
**Enkage bunshin** - (A-rank, pyrokinesis based jutsu) Flame shadow clone - Shadow clone Naruto creates while using his pyrokinesis powers. Explodes into a fireball when destroyed or upon a command, but otherwise normal shadow clone. First time used publicly during Kakashi's test.  
**Doton: doryuusou** - (?-rank) Earth style: earthen rising spears - Stone spears raise form the ground to pierce the target.  
**Katon: housenka no jutsu** - (C-rank) Fire style: mythical fire phoenix jutsu - User exhales several small fireballs. The fireballs can have shuriken hidden within them.

*** Poll**:  
1. Kill her during the "Sasuke running away to Orochimaru" arc - 64 votes so far  
2. Maim her during the "Sasuke running away to Orochimaru" arc - 37 votes so far  
3. Land her into the hospital, but otherwise leave her be - 14 votes so far

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own '_**Naruto**_' or any of it's characters... Same with the '_**Code geass**_'. I also don't own _**C&C Tiberium series**_ where a certain phrase said by Naruto in this chapter came from.

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'  
_**_flashback events_

**_

* * *

_**

**_AN:_** This chapter is NOT beta-read.**  
**

* * *

**Pyro  
chapter 11: The survivor**

Yamanaka Haro wasn't exactly the ordinary man of his clan. While blond as the rest of them, he had exactly no talent in clan techniques, while, on the other hand, being one of the strongest earth and water jutsu users among the chuunin of Konoha. Unlike the rest of his clan, he was a front line fighter, not a supporting one. So, for Sarutobi, this man, who currently had no constant team, was an obvious choice to fill Naruto's place on the team seven. Haro immediately agreed, while Kurenai and the rest of the team didn't really mind the new blond of their team...

Done with keeping the ninja forces of the village battle ready – even if Sarutobi preferred peaceful ways, it was better safe than sorry – the elderly Hokage turned his attention to the upcoming funereal of Naruto Uzumaki. While he felt that the boy died long before he should have had, at least he died as a hero, protecting his teammates... The main problem with the funereal was that good ninety percents of the village still saw the boy as a demon and would love nothing more than to desecrate his grave the first chance they got – they still didn't know that the boy was dead, thankfully... Still, Sarutobi thought, he had found a solution to this problem...

* * *

The day of the funereal came faster, much faster, than Sarutobi would have liked, but what could he do? Anyway, he got a nice spot for the grave next to the ANBU bed of honor: this way only the most daring would try anything...

Only a handful of people was invited to the ceremony: Sarutobi clan, Tsunade, Udon, Moegi, Kurenai and her two genin, Team Gai, Ichirakus, the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Iruka, Yuugao, Hayate and Ibiki, who _nicely_ asked to be there too... Everything followed the general protocol, until the ANBU cell assigned for the task started lowering the barrel-like coffin into the ground. At that very moment a grapefruit sized fireball slammed through the empty coffin, destroying it. The ANBU and the Hokage immediately located the attacker, a man in a tattered cloak with a hood hiding his face, who sat on the tree branch a good dozen of meters above them. Just a moment later they were pointing their weapons onto the figure, who, though, didn't even flinch.

"And once again this world is too quick to bury me..." This phrase made Hokage and the others – nobody was sure about the ANBU, though – raise their eyebrows. Then the figure removed the hood, revealing himself to be Naruto. There was some dried blood under his left eye and on the left cheek of his there was a fading trace of a healed wound. "Nice too you all again." Some seemed to be shocked to see him alive, some were happy and Hokage... He reappeared on the branch where the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was sitting and pressed the end of his bo staff to boy's chest. Oh, and the elderly man looked pissed...

"I demand that you drop this illusion and follow the ANBU quietly into the holding cells where your fate will be decided." The Hokage hissed, releasing tremendous amounts of killing intent. Naruto chuckled, as his left eye turned into geass.

"Easy there, jiji." Fire started forming around Naruto's hands, and he pushed the staff away from his body. "You don't want to accidentally kill me and release shishou. She isn't happy with the village, you know?" Hokage just narrowed his eyes. "You want me to prove that I am who I claim to be?" The blond shinobi let the flames die, and then opened his cloak and unzipped his jacket, revealing his torso with old scars and some fresh ones and a black seal on his stomach that was unmistakeably **shiki fuuin**. Sarutobi shook his head and sealed his staff away.

"Naruto, I'm sorry, but... I... We all thought that you've died..." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki frowned.

"Jiji, I thought that the last decade would have taught you that I'm not that easy to kill..." He then jumped down onto the ground. "I'm sure that you all want to know how I have survived that ...encounter, but it is classified information for everyone bar Hokage, Tsunade and ...well, Hinata-chan. So I will tell just this: I was lucky to survive... Jiji, we should move to your office, so that I can tell the details. Hinata-chan, you can come too, but you are under an oath not to reveal anything you've learned." And then Naruto disappeared via his **dimensional shift**. Tsunade **shunshin**'ed after him. Sarutobi looked at the Hyuuga heiress.

"I take it, he told you at least the part of the truth about his fire?" Hinata nodded slowly, unsure whether it was OK for her to know or not. "Well then, take my hand." The Hokage said. The girl did as she was told too, and they disappeared in a swirl of wind and leaves...

**~/ *** \~**

By the time Sarutobi and Hinata arrived to the Hokage's office, Naruto and Tsunade were already there, and the sannin was healing the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's left eye, while berating him for ending up with the tremendous eye damage again. Coughing into his fist, Hokage made the two blonds switch their attention to him.

"All right, now that we are here, it's time for you to tell us about what happened in that battle and after it, Naruto." The elderly man said, while activating privacy seals of the room. Tsunade nodded and returned to healing her godson's eye.

"Very well..." Naruto said. "As I am sure that you have the idea about what happened before the team seven left the battlefield, I'll continue from there..."

**flashback**

_Needing to buy his teammates a little more time, before they will be at the safe distance from these men, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki split the remaining fire dragon into four, directing three of them to attack the Kusa missing-nin from different sides, while distracting the other bandit with the forth. As the man in kasa was trying to dodge the fire, the blond shinobi threw a kunai with explosive tag at his head, killing him too... Irakusa didn't move an inch as three fire dragons approached him from different sides – he didn't need to, as three shields of chakra appeared around him, protecting him. _

_"**Doton: ganchuusou!**" The Kyuubi jinchuuriki yelled as he, dropping the firewall, slammed his onto the ground, making several rock spears rise from underneath his opponent. Unfortunately, those shields protected the man again. This was a damn absolute defense, much better than Gaara's sand! Irakusa sent a new valley of 'shields' at Naruto, forcing the blond to roll to the side to avoid being hit._

_"You know, little fly, I'm honored to fight you. After all, there are only so many of us there..." The Kusa missing-nin said suddenly. When Naruto looked at him, he lowered his sunglasses, showing the Kyuubi jinchuuriki his eyes. Geasses. In both eyes... Catching Naruto by surprise with this, the man hit his opponent with a valley of 'shields', sending him flying into the nearest tree. And as Naruto's concentration was lost, all of the fire he was controlling disappeared... "Look like I win, little fly." Irakusa said as he approached the downed blond._

"_I wouldn't be so sure." Naruto brought his hands together into the cross-shaped handseal. "**Enkage bunshin!**" Two clones, that appeared in a clouds of reddish smoke, charged towards the approaching enemy. Of course, his shield protected the man form the fireballs the clones turned into when they got close enough, but it was enough of a distraction for Naruto to recover and continue fighting. Taking control over the flames, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki made them envelop the missing-nin. Of course, Irakusa's shields protected him by creating a 'bubble' around him. But that was all that the blond shinobi needed. "Gotcha." Increasing the intensity of his flames, Naruto continued. "I've noticed that your geass has one small downside: you can't use it offensively and defensively simultaneously. So even if I can't reach you with my fire, jutsu or weapons, I can defeat you. Depending on whether your shields are hermetic or not, you'll use all of the oxygen yourself, or it will be sucked in by my fire. All I need to do is to have you surrounded." Irakusa gritted his teeth: this fly found the only real weakness of his power..._

"_Don't be so cocky, little fly. You might be right about that, but I have more chakra left. And I use less than you. I'd say that you can keep those flames for another minute or two only. Then you die." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki sighed._

"_I wouldn't be so sure about that..." He said aloud, before sending a message to the demoness in the seal: 'Shihou... I need your yoki...'_

_'**You know well that using my power with the witch's gift damages your eye?**' The Kyuubi said._

_'Better being half-blind than dead.' Naruto retorted._

_'**Good point. But that Tsunade woman is going to kill you for hurting yourself.**' The nine-tailed yoko pointed out, but still sent her yoki into her container... In the real world, Naruto's chakra levels increased drastically, and he got surrounded by a 'cloak' of fire in the shape of a dragon. And the flames the Konoha nin controlled grew much more powerful and hot... This both shocked and scared Irakusa. Maybe this little fly had what it takes to kill him after all...

* * *

_

_It was a struggle of two powers, but in the end, fifteen minutes later, Naruto, who had next to limitless amount of Kyuubi's yoki to help him, won, burning Irakusa to a crisp, when the man ran out of chakra to maintain his shields. Of course, Naruto too didn't get off this easily: his own chakra reserves were almost completely depleted and such an extensive usage of Kyuubi's yoki damaged his chakra passageways and almost turned his left eye blind..._

_Just as the blond jinchuuriki fell on the ground completely exhausted, he heard several men approaching. He tried to get up to protect himself, if it was necessary, but before he could lift his protesting body off the ground, something hit his neck and he slipped into the unconsciousness..._

**~/ *** \~**

"_I say, we should just kill him. After all, he killed our boss!" A male voice shouted._

"_I agree than he must be killed, but we should interrogate him first. What if the tree-huggers have more like him? They could very well ruin the brotherhood." Another yelled back._

"_Do what you want, but try not killing each other." The third one said, much calmer than the other two. The forth voice just groaned and returned to snoring. Still, Naruto, who was woken up by the yelling, heard him. Even without opening his eyes the Kyuubi jinchuuriki could tell that those men were arguing about him – after all he was their prisoner: the ropes he was tied with and knives that nailed him through abs, feet, palms and shoulders to the tree made that quite clear._

_'Damn...' Naruto thought. 'At least they didn't kill me outright. I might have a chance to escape...'_

_'**And I must help you there. You are in no condition to escape by yourself. But do not use the geass more than you absolutely need.**' Kyuubi told him through the mental link, while sending more yoki into his system to help his still low chakra reserves._

_'Thank you, shishou.' Naruto told her, activating his geass and preparing to do something with the ropes. Unfortunately, the knives in his palms destroyed the seals the Hokage drew there for him, so he couldn't produce fire to control right now. On the plus side, he was not far from the bonfire, the four men who captured him sat around. So all that he needed to do was to bring some fire to the ropes unnoticed..._

_'**You owe me.**' Naruto nodded and concentrated on bringing fire to burn the ropes... Five minutes later he finally managed to do this without his captors noticing it. Then he carefully burnt the ropes to free himself from them. Done with this, Naruto deactivated his geass and allowed more yoki to flow into his system. Before his captors could even react, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki ripped himself from the tree. It hurt like hell, but, thankfully, this berserk mode dulled his sense of pain, and yoki helped with healing the wounds..._

"_I told you that we should have killed him when we could." The first man – short and bald, with large backpack on his back and a strange staff in his hands – yelled, getting into his battle stance, preparing to fight Naruto, who was now surrounded by the 'cloak' of yoki in a form of a two-tailed fox. The other three took defensive stances. For a couple of moments the five just traded glares. Then the four men attacked the jinchuuriki: the short baldy one charged with his staff that now opened like a flower, presenting a previously hidden poisoned blade to the world. The other three were doing different sets of handseals._

"_**Doton: ganchuusou!**"_

"_**Katon: housenka no jutsu!**"_

"_**Doton: doryuusou!**" Only his improved senses, strength and speed saved Naruto from being either impaled on rock spears or seriously burnt. Still, he couldn't avoid the blade on the staff completely and it left a wound on his lower chest. It hurt a lot, but the Kyuubi jinchuuriki ignored it, and sent a wave of yoki in a mighty roar towards his attackers. The one who used housenka wasn't fast enough to dodge the wave and was sent into a tree. Then he fell on the ground unconscious. The other three, though, didn't seem to care about that and continued attacking. The man with the staff tried to stab Naruto again, but the Kyuubi jinchuuriki caught the weapon with his yoki-covered arm and tried to rip it off attacker's arms. This turned out to be a mistake as the short man was much stronger than he looked to be, and while trying to disarm him, Naruto missed his other two opponents preparing another assault with ninjutsu. An earthen spear rose right from underneath the blond and impaled him through the stomach – thankfully, not a fatal wound – while another rock spear left a deep wound on Naruto's left cheek. Roaring angrily, the jinchuuriki clashed the offending spears with the yoki claws of his free hand and then ripped the one from his gut. He yanked the staff, forcing the short bald man to move closer to him, and thrust the rock spear through his head. Letting another loud roar, Naruto sent a wave of yoki in all directions, sending both his opponents backwards. Not giving them any chance to recover, he attacked, trying to slash them to death with his claws. Thanks to the improved speed and strength, it wasn't too hard... Picking the staff up, Naruto killed the unconscious one, before allowing the yoki around him to fade._

_'**Naruto-kun, you are seriously wounded and poisoned. I can heal that, but it would take a lot of time, so you'll need to find yourself some safe haven and fall into hibernation.**' The Kyuubi said. Naruto only nodded tiredly._

_'OK, OK,.. But first I need to find any clues about the brotherhood they were talking about.' He replied while going through the things killed ninja had on them..._

**the end of the flashback**

"Well, that is pretty much what happened." The blond jinchuuriki said. "After I got some old papers from their bodies, I hurried to find some place safe for shishou to heal me... I think, the hibernation lasted about two weeks, after all I took the wounds that would be fatal for a normal ninja..." He made a pause. "When I woke up, I looked through the papers I got. I turns out that the brotherhood is composed of groups of mostly low-rank missing-nin that work for the Akatsuki organization. Or so I figured from seeing the red cloud seal on the papers. After that, I, using my and shishou's memory, recreated the seal on my palms and hurried back to Konoha." Another pause. "And it looks like I arrived just in time to attend my own funereal. " Naruto finished with a small laugh. Others didn't exactly see this funny... The Hokage coughed to attract the attention.

"While I'm really happy that you survived, Naruto, I'm afraid that I've already moved you from the team." Naruto shrugged.

"It was good to have a normal team for a time, but I think, jiji, I had told you what I wanted to do the most." Sarutobi nodded.

"Yes, about that..." Then he remembered that Hinata was still in the room. "Hinata, please, leave." Knowing that what was going to be said was none of her business, Hyuuga heiress just nodded and left. "Yes, Naruto, I remember. You wanted to take Jiraya's place as the spymaster." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded. "Personally, I don't see any problem with this, but I'll need to talk with my student, when he returns, about this. ...For the time being, I think that you should take a medical leave." Tsunade nodded: even with the help of the nine-tailed demoness, Naruto still was in a pretty bad shape.

"If that's all..." The blond ninja said. Sarutobi almost dismissed him, but then his eyes landed on one of the many documents piled up on his table.

"Actually there is one more thing, Naruto, if you don't mind. Since you will be on the medical leave for some time, I want you to look after someone. She's currently in the prison cells, but due to the ...interrogations she'd undergone, she undergone mental degrading and no longer can be considered a threat, so there is no actual point in keeping her in the cells. I want you to look after her and try to at least to shape her into a normal Konoha citizen. Better, of course, into one of the shinobi, but I'm not sure if that will be possible with how she is right now. Do you accept this task, Naruto?" The blond was thoughtful for some time, but then nodded slowly.

"I'll see what I can do." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said.

"Very well then. You can go." As Tsunade had already finished this round of healing him, the blond shinobi was free to leave Hokage's office.

**~/ *** \~**

Two days later Naruto, accompanied by the Hokage himself and Ibiki, and lead by an ANBU walked through the corridors of the Konoha war prison past identical metal doors of the cells. Finally, the ANBU stopped in front of one of the many doors. It held the number '1347'.

"She's here." The ANBU said in a modified voice. Ibiki produced the ID card and a key and opened the cell. Naruto was prepared to see anything but the redheaded girl of about his age, who was pressing in into the wall opposite from the cell door, obviously scared of her 'guests' to death... Naruto was sure, he had seen her before somewhere, but it actually took him several seconds to remember who exactly she was.

"Is that one of the _snake_'s guards form the roof?" He asked. Ibiki nodded.

"Indeed. Her name's Tayuya."

"And as you can see, she's no longer in condition to be considered even dangerous. She reacts like this to anyone who enters her cell." Sarutobi informed. "And the medical reports say that psychological damage is more or less permanent, so there is also no point in keeping her there." A pause. "But I believe that she can be turned into a regular civilian, or even – I'm sorry to say this, but we are shinobi, and using what is at our disposal is a part of our job – brainwashed into becoming Konoha kunoichi at some point in the future." The elderly man said.

"So... You, basically, want me to turn her into that?" Naruto asked. He knew that she was an enemy, but seeing her now, broken like this, he thought giving her a second chance might actually not be a mistake. Sarutobi nodded.

"Yes. You might not know it, Naruto, but you actually have a rare gift that makes people see 'the light'. I'm sure that you can be a positive influence on her." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki sighed.

"I can try." He said. Then there was a long pause, during which Naruto noticed that two not masked men were looking at him, expecting him to do something to begin this 'mission'. Sighing again, the bond teen slowly approached the scared girl, who was trying to press herself further into the wall with each step he took towards her... By the time he sat on the bench slash bed next to her, she almost had a heart attack from fear. Not really knowing what to do, he tried to remember what Kyuubi had taught him about girls... "Tsss... Tayuya-chan..." He didn't know what else to say, so just left it as it was. At the same time he gently placed his hand on her upper leg. She immediately froze, wide-eyed with fear. But as he did nothing else to her, Tayuya slowly started to relax... '_It's going to be a lo-ong 'mission'_' Naruto thought.

* * *

That's all folks. Leave me a **review**!


	13. Troubles everywhere

Hello, everyone. I finally made an update for the "_**Pyro**_" story. Hope, you'll enjoy it.

*** Review response**:  
**Psudocode Samurai**, **Takai153**, Tayuya, with time, will regain a part of her old bossy dirty-mouthed personality, but she'll definitely be submissive towards Naruto, who'll save her.  
**Reishin Amara**, I hope, this chapter will explain that.  
**Elemental Dragon Swordman**, heh. Someone had to do it, right?  
**RE5 forever**, worry not, our redhead will most definitely recover.  
**ogihcI ikasoruK**, as for Irakusa idea... Sorry, can't post a photo of my ceiling. =) But if I were to be serious, '_new_' Zeruel from Eva 2.22 movie was the source of inspiration for this character. I'd also like to say, that he won't be the only other geass user around, there will be more.  
**UMMX**, as tempting as this idea may sound, the pairing is set: Naruto/Tayuya/C.C. + free-fem-Kyuubi for one night with all of them.  
**dracopoet**, sorry. I try to update whenever I can, but with my diploma an other things to do with the university, i rather short on free time...**  
OBSERVER01**, thank you, man!  
**Vandenbz**, um... Does it really qualify as the full-fledged crossover? Well, if it is, I might really move it to crossover section. Also, the pairing is (was originally) just one of those random ideas that pop into my head from time to time. As for not updating for a long time, I explained to **dracopoet** why.  
**delphinous**, I try to stay as far away from overused plotlines/abilities/etc. as possible... Plus that control geass was a bit 'overpowered' - Lelouch could just order those under his geass to always follow his commands (why he didn't do just that?)... I also dislike immortal-someone (unless character is immortal by default) plotlines, so, no, Naruto will stay perfectly mortal. As for C.C. losing her immortality, but living... wait and see. No spoilers there.

*** Jutsu list**:  
**Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'Teleportation' jutsu.  
**Henge **- (E-rank) Transformation - allows user to transform into another person or object.  
**Kage bunshin** - (A-rank) Shadow clone - creates solid chakra-made copy of user (to be destroyed shadow clone must get moderate damage). Shadow clones have perfect copy of user's mind and memory. When dispelled, shadow clones return experience of their 'life' to user. Shadow clones split user's chakra by clones number +1 (if you create 3 clones you'll have only 1/4 of chakra left (minus chakra needed to create clones)) that's why they are mostly used for information gathering.  
**Gyaku kuchiyose no jutsu** - (unknown rank) reverse summoning - acts in an opposite way to the normal summoning. **Gyaku kuchiyose no jutsu** allows an animal to summon human to its location. the only know species to perform this jutsu are toads.**  
Kuchiyose**** no jutsu** - (A-rank) Summoning - Time-space ninjutsu that summons object/animal (requiers signed contract with that type of animals) to user's location.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'

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_**

This chapter is NOT beta-read

* * *

**Pyro  
chapter 12: Troubles everywhere**

Living with Tayuya wasn't easy for Naruto: whatever was done to her at the I&T department broke her to the point that she retreated to the deepest recesses of her mind, becoming more like a scared animal in human body... It was two weeks since the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was given a mission to help her recover 'as a Konoha affiliated person', and the redhead still wasn't speaking at all... At least by now she could do some simplest things on her own, for which the blond shinobi was very grateful. On the plus side, Hokage gave him an apartment – in the same building, actually – so he didn't need to bother Yugao and Hayate with his presence anymore. And, Naruto found himself enjoying sleeping in the same bed with Tayuya – no matter how much he protested, the red-haired girl was adamant that she slept with someone she knew as a 'safe' person – and after three night, the young jinchuuriki just gave up and let her do like she wished...

Today Naruto was woken up by a sound of something falling from his balcony, followed by a joyful cry 'I'm so-o proud!' There was no doubt in blond's mind about who decided to visit him this morning.

"Ero-sennin..." He muttered under his breath, before trying to go back to sleep, as the redhead in his bed snuggled closer to him. The peace didn't last for more than a minute, as Jiraya recovered and was again sitting on the windowsill.

"Wake up, gaki!" The white-haired man said loudly, forcing the Kyuubi jinchuuriki abandon any hopes for a sleep in. Tayuya too was woken up and currently was trying to hide behind her blond protector. "We have a work to do, so get ready." The toad sage finally explained the reason for his visit.

"But I'm kind of unable to go on missions right now." Naruto said, glancing at the redhead next to him.

"Nonsense, we are just going to make contact with one of my spies in Tea country. There were some suspicious things happening lately, but nothing you and I can't handle. You and your girlfriend will be fine." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki blushed, but by now he knew better than to deny the girlfriend part as it would only cause more teasing from the self-proclaimed super-pervert.

"How much do I have to get ready?" Naruto asked.

"An hour..." Then Jiraya's eyes landed on Tayuya. "OK, two hours..." The man corrected himself, while some blood appeared under his nose. "Meet me at the southern gates in two hours." And the toad sage disappeared via **shunshin**. Naruto sighed.  
"Oh, well, Tayuya-chan... Let's get ready." He said in a low, a bit sleepy voice...

* * *

An hour and fifty minutes later, Naruto and Tayuya arrived to the southern gates. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki wore his usual attire, complete with a dark cloak, while his red-haired charge was in a dark-gray knee-long skirt and a shirt of the same color, all underneath his spare cloak. Jiraya was already at the gates when they arrived, scribbling something in his notebook, a new icha-icha book, no doubt.

"You here, brat? Let's go then." The white-haired man said, packing his things and walking out of the gates. Naruto nodded and, having Tayuya piggy back him, followed Jiraya.

"Still, what's the problem we need to solve?" The blond shinobi asked. "I mean, you aren't the one, who will be sent to solve some simple matters. There must be something going on in the Tea country."

"You're right, but it's not that bad. Just a group of thugs trying to take over local trading companies by attacking their ships. It concerns Konoha only because we're are somewhat allied with Tea country, and if the situation is left as it is, the prices will skyrocket, which no one want." The toad sage explained. Naruto nodded, understanding the situation.

"So we have an economically dangerous situation, but one that doesn't require a lot of military force to resolve... And you are taking me with you so that I can start my training of being the next spymaster." The white-haired man nodded.

"You're right, brat, on both accounts. You may be a bit too young to be spymaster right now, but it takes years to learn to be one, so when you finish the training, you'll be just right for the task."

"OK..." Naruto said. "How are we getting there?" He asked after a small pause.

"I'd have asked you to summon us a bird to fly there once we reach the coast, but I don't think your girlfriend will appreciate that, so we will take a ship to the isles." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded again, wholeheartedly agreeing with the plan.

**~/ *** \~**

It took them only five days to reach the coast, since Naruto was carrying Tayuya all the way. Because of the situation in the Tea country, only so many captains wanted to go there, even if they had one of the sannin on board, so it took Jiraya two days to find a ship that would sail them to their destination. That was actually a battleship from the Snow country that was sent to resolve the same problem with the attacks on the trade ships... The cabins there might have been not very comfortable, but the ship was fast, so they were in the northern port of the Tea country in just four days. Once there, Konoha ninja – and Tayuya – parted their ways with the battleship's crew and went to the Sachou town, which they reached in another two days. As they reached this town, the toad sage found a nice hotel for them to stay at and, seeing that it was already quite late, called it a day...

* * *

The next morning Jiraya woke Naruto early and took him and Tayuya – she had to go with them too since there was no one to leave her with at the hotel, and she still hadn't recovered from her mental trauma enough to be safe by herself for a long time – to one of the pubs in the town, 'The green dragon'. The sannin entered almost empty at this hour bar and sat by the bar counter, motioning the blond and the redhead to do the same. Just as the three of them were finally sitting, the bartender, short and rather old man with slightly spiked brown hair, appeared in front of them.

"What will my guest have this fine mornin'?" He asked. Jiraya scanned the bottles on the wall with his eyes, before looking at the bartender.

"My friends there will have some sushi with white wine, and I will have a jar of the 'Firebird sake' with those wonderful spicy sausages you serve there." At the mentions of the sake man's eyes shifted, like he was looking for someone eavesdropping on them, a bit, before he returned to his 'normal' self, while secretly activating privacy seals around the counter.

"Of course, Jiraya-dono." The bartender said with a small bow. He dove under the counter for a moment to get the sake. "I take it, you are here because of the thugs that mess with the trading companies?" The man asked. Jiraya nodded, opening the sake jar. "I will give the appetizers in a moment." He said as he passed the glasses of white wine to Naruto and Tayuya.

"This is Jouzu Okuchou. My spy in the tea country." Supplied the toad sage when the now named bartender disappeared into the kitchen. "The sake and the appetizer I ordered are the password, stating that I want him to share the information. He is the retired shinobi, so he won't be fooled with a **henge**. I will introduce you to him once I finish my business, OK?" Jouzu returned with appetizers, so Naruto only nodded in response. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki listened only so much to what the spy said to Jiraya, as he was mostly keeping an eye on his red-haired charge, so that she didn't make a mess. Plus Jouzu was talking about thugs' bases' locations and some other information of this kind, which right now he could not listen to – if he were to deal with them, the ero-sennin would retell him the info... "...Thank you for the information, Jouzu-dono." Jiraya said, giving the man a sheaf of ryo. "While that may have being the main reason, I'm here, there is also another one. You see, my friend, I'm getting old, so I'm training a replacement for myself." The bartender nodded. "Hey, brat, introduce yourself." Jiraya said to Naruto. The blond shinobi nodded.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha shinobi of chuunin rank right now." Naruto fell silent after that.

"That's all? What's with the word niggardliness?" Asked the toad sage.

"No offense to Jouzu-san, but that is about all information on myself I trust him with right now." The man actually smiled.

"Cautious much. I like you, kid. By the way, I'm Jouzu Okuchou, like Jiraya-dono had already told you. I was a ninja of the Hidden Flame before it was destroyed at the end of the Second Great shinobi War. Ever since then, I lived here in the Tea country, being ...not so simple bartender." He introduced himself. There was a small pause, before he continued. "Still, you hadn't introduced your girlfriend."

"She's Tayuya." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied in a bit annoyed tone. "And she's my charge, not my girlfriend." He added moments later. Jouzu just shrugged.

"Anyway, brat, I'm out to solve the bandit problem and, most likely won't be back for several hours." Jiraya said, finishing his sake. "Since you you are getting along this well, Naruto, use this time to enter into your own contract with Jouzu-dono." Not even waiting for his apprentice's reply, the white-haired man disappeared via **shunshin**.

"Oh, well..." Naruto sighed. There was a pause than. "Let's do it, Jouzu-san." The blond shinobi said finally. "What will your conditions be?" The ex-ninja brought his hand to his face, obviously deep in his thoughts.

"I dunno... How 'bout five thousands ryo per high secrecy tier info and two and a half for lower? And I you owe me a reasonable favor in Konoha too." Jouzu said finally, making the Kyuubi jinchuuriki frown a little: this was too expensive...

"Hmm... How about half those prices? I agree with the favor, though." The blond shinobi started bargaining.

"What? No... I say four and two..." Jouzu counterattacked...

**~/ *** \~**

Jiraya returned to the hotel late in the evening, somewhat tired and his clothes torn in a couple of places, and found Tayuya sleeping on her bed with her head in Naruto's lap, while the blond was gently running his fingers through her dark-red hair.

"You two look good together." The toad sage said with a grin that was borderline perverted. Naruto ignored him in favor of giving his attention to the girl in his care. "OK, OK..." Jiraya said, giving up on the previous line. "How did the things go with Jouzu-dono?"

"Well enough." Naruto answered curtly. "We've entered into a contract."

"Good." The self-proclaimed super-pervert said with a nod. "But just because this time you entered into the contract with one of my spies, do not expect it to always be like that: you will have to build your own spy network at some time, and you'll have to do that with your own men." He saw his apprentice nod. "This one was more like an exercise in diplomacy of creating contracts." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded once again.

"I suspected as much." Naruto replied, his eyes never leaving Tayuya's peaceful face.

'_**More like I suspected that.**_' Kyuubi spoke to her container in his mind, making him do a mental nod.

'_Of course, shishou._' He could almost see the demoness grin for a brief moment... "Anyway, what's the situation with bandits?" The toad sage shrugged.

"I dealt with them. There won't be any problems with them now." Naruto just nodded, happy that the problem was dealt with so fast... Several minutes later the silence in the room was broken when an old toad in a black cloak arrived through the window.

"Pa?" Jiraya asked in surprise. "What brings you here?"

"Enma-dono, at Saturobi-san's request, asked me to bring you back to the Hidden Leaf immediately." The toad said, making Jiraya frown – something serious must have happened.

"Do you know the reason for sensei to summon us back to Konoha?" The white-haired man asked.

"Sorry, Jiraya-chan, but I'm not privy to that information." Jiraya nodded slowly.

"Very well... Naruto, put your girlfriend to a deeper sleep – I do not know what's going on, so it will be better if she's out of our way. Plus I'm not sure that the whole trip through the Mebokuzan would do her any good." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki gave him a curt nod and knocked Tayuya unconscious. As soon as he did that, Jiraya placed stasis seal on her, so that she won't wake up at the wrong time. Once it was done, the toad sage created single **kage bunshin** and sent him to down to the lobby to inform administrators that they were freeing the room. "Now, brat, I want you to hold your girlfriend tight, and do the same with my arm. The last thing we need, it is you two being lost in the process of the reverse summoning." Naruto nodded and id as he was told. "We are ready." The white-haired man said to the toad.

"OK..." The goad went through some handseals. "**Gyaku kuchiyose no jutsu!**" Naruto felt the strangest sensation as Jiraya and his 'passengers' were transported to some kind of tropical marsh... The clouds of white smoke that always accompanied summoning jutsu were yet to disperse completely, when they were summoned further, appearing moments later in the Hokage's office.

"Good evening." Sarutobi greeted them. "I'm very sorry for summoning you here like that, but Konoha found itself in a sticky situation." The old man made a small pause, before continuing. "Uchiha Sasuke has defected the village. As we're still short on shinobi, I sent a team of five genin and three chuunin to bring him back, but a patrol team found three dead jounin on the most likely course of the Uchiha several hours ago, confirming my fears of him having help from the outside." Jiraya nodded,while taking a rough map from his sensei's hands.

"You want us to join that team to ensure success of their mission, sensei?" He asked. Sarutobi shook his head.

"I want you to save those from the team that are still alive. I fear, we will lose several young and promising ninja this day." Both Naruto ant his white-haired mentor nodded at this.

"If the things are like this, we shall depart at once." The toad sage responded. "Sensei, keep this fine young lady safe." He said, nodding towards Tayuya. "Fukasaku, Shima, I thank you for assisting me and my sensei." The two toads in the room nodded and, doing a single handseal, disappeared in a poofs of white smoke.

"She's safe in my care." The Third Hokage replied as Naruto placed the unconscious redhead on the sofa in that was there in the office.

"Well, then... Let's go, brat." Jiraya ordered.

"Hai!" The two ninja jumped out of the window of the Hokage office. "**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" Naruto summoned a firebird in the midair. Moment later they already were on their way towards where the unfortunate team, sent to recover Sasuke, was...

* * *

That's all, folks. Leave me a **review**!


	14. The end of the chase

Hello, everyone, here's the newest chapter of "_**Pyro**_" for your enjoyment!

*** Review response**:  
**Fayneir**, **nobother**, **OBSERVER01**, **RE5 forever**, **Hanzo of the Salamander**, **fco ala**, **Collin Oshea**, **kihakukage**, thanks, folks!  
**ogihcI ikasoruK**, yes, Tayuya will be less ...well, Tayuya-ish with Naruto, but once she is healed, she'll be bossy and dirty-mouthed with the others... Geass users will appear from time to time, but there will be no knightmares - this is "_**Naruto**_" world after all...  
**Elemental Dragon Swordman**, read and see, what I wrote for this chapter.  
**Reishin Amara**, um... She is under the stasis seal, so she won't woke up for now...  
**delphinous**, Tayuya will allege herself to Naruto, but never actually becoming a shinobi for Konoha. And with Naruto taking the role of spymaster, she won't be in Konoha for the most time... C.C. will appear from time to time, but she will permanently join Naruto only a couple of chapters away from the end of the story.  
**Nero Strauss**, after.**  
The Last Rising Of The Phoenix**, thanks, but no. I have enough stories as it is.

*** Jutsu list**:  
**Kuchiyose no jutsu** - (A-rank) Summoning - Time-space ninjutsu that summons object/animal (requires signed contract with that type of animals) to user's location.  
**Kawarimi** - (E-rank) Change of body stance - substitutes user with nearby object.  
**Shōton: Hashou Kouryuu** - (bloodline jutsu) Crystal style: Tearing Crystal Falling Dragon – the user creates a dragon from crystal to attack the target with or to travel on.**  
Doton: yomi numa** - (A-rank) Earth style: swamp of the underworld - This jutsu creates vast swamp. If someone happens to be where the swamp is created, he will sink and, if swamp is deep enough, may be killed.  
**Shoton: shojin** - (bloodline jutsu) Crystal style: crystalline shield - Creates a semi-spherical shield to protect the user from attacks.  
**Shoton: shinhou** - (bloodline jutsu) Crystal style: needle cannon - Launches crystalline projectile towards the target.  
**Shoton: shorin** - (bloodline jutsu) Crystal style: crystal forest – brings crystal 'spikes' up through the ground within the surrounding area with the intent to impale others within the 'forest'.  
**Rasengan **- (A-rank) Spiral sphere - rasengan is a tight ball of compressed fast-rotating chakra (or yoki) that does tremendous drilling damage.  
**Katon: endan** - (C-rank) Fire style: fireball - Fireball technique.

*** Poll results**:  
What should I do with Sakura H. in the "Pyro" story?  
1) Kill her during the "Sasuke running away to Orochimaru" arc - **138 votes** (55%) - This is the winning option, and what will happen in the story.  
2) Maim her during the "Sasuke running away to Orochimaru" arc - 76 votes (30%)  
3) Land her into the hospital, but otherwise leave her be - 36 votes (14%)

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own '_**Naruto**_' or any of it's characters... Same with the '_**Code Geass**_'

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

* * *

Special thanks to _**NARUHAREM FOREVA **_for beta-reading this chapter.

* * *

**Pyro**  
**chapter 1****3****: The end of the chase**

Even if Jiraya was mainly a spymaster and a combat specialist, it took him only a couple of minutes to pick up the track of the team that was sent to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. And once he picked the track, Naruto's firebird carried them as fast as it could in that direction. But since the team left the village several hours ago, it was almost an hour before Naruto and and Jiraya spotted a large area of destroyed forest that was a sure sign of battle having happened there.

"That's Chouji and some chuunin I don't know." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said, pointing to two shinobi sitting against a tree on the edge of the destroyed area. "And that guy was with Orochimaru when the snake attacked during the chuunin exams." The blond ninja added, when his eyes landed on the Jirobou's mutilated body.

"I can barely feel their chakra signatures, and the oto nin is dead. And there no others around, so the rest of the team must have continued the chase." The white-haired sannin said. "These two, though, need help, while we need information about whom we are dealing with." Naruto nodded and told the bird to land not far from two barely alive Konoha shinobi. "This should help your body fight the aftereffects of the pill you used." Jiraya said, tossing some ANBU rations to Chouji. Then the white haired man knelt by the unconscious chuunin's side and started tending to his wounds with the limited medical knowledge he had. Meanwhile Naruto was getting information about the enemies they might encounter from the Akimichi heir.

"Well... There was this guy I and Horo-san fought." Chouji said, before taking another bite from the ration. "Then there was a woman in green kimono, and a six-armed guy who was carrying a barrel. Shikamaru thought that Sasuke was in it..." The young Akimichi said.

"You've killed Jirobou. The six-armed man is Kidomaru, they are two of the five Orochimaru's personal guard. The third one was killed, forth was ...rendered harmless, and I haven't heard any info on the last one, other than he is supposed to be a Kaguya and that he wasn't seen in months. The woman you described could be a replacement for one of those three..." Naruto replied. "Did she show any specific skill?" Chouji shook his head. "Oh, well... Thank you for information, Chouji." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said, before jumping onto the firebird's back. Jiraya, who did what he could for the wounded chuunin, joined him there moments later, just as it was taking off the ground...

**~/ *** \~**

Half an hour of a flight on the top speed, towards where the rest of the Sasuke-capturing group was supposed to be, Jiraya picked another two chakra signatures: one faint and one fading – from a dead person. This time the forest wasn't damaged as heavily as in the previous case, but a trained eye could still see where the fight was. As there was no open are to land, Naruto ordered the bird to hover above the 'battlefield'. After several seconds of searching for any fighters, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki noticed an obviously dead – a hole through the head did that even to a ninja – man, who, judging by the number of arms was Kidomaru. At the same time Jiraya saw a trail of blood going deeper into the woods. Silently summoning a single shadow clone, the toad sage ordered it to find the injured person and, if that was an ally, help in any way it could. The clone nodded and jumped off the firebird.

"My clone will take care of thing there. It seems that the snake's group was stronger than we anticipated. We should hurry, in case the others need our help." The white-haired sannin said to his apprentice. Naruto nodded and told the bird to continue following the trail of Konoha's team...

* * *

This time it took them more than an hour to reach the next sight of the battle. And by the looks, one of the fighters was Inuzuka and another specialized in throwing weapons, while the third one was using pinkish crystals. As Naruto knew no one in Konoha with the shoton element, it was safe to assume that the crystal user was in league with Orochimaru.

"There are three trails for here. One leads deeper into the forest, another goes to into the nearest river and the third one follows the second one closely. I can also sense someone joining the chase from North at this point. Most likely, a backup from the snake." Jiraya said as he used all of his tracking skill to determine what happened here and where everyone went from here. "What shall we do? Konoha team split at this point and both parties are in danger most likely."

"We shall split." Naruto stated. "I know, that it's not wise to do so when facing unknown enemies, but our mission was to ensure that the team the Old man sent survives, and as they split, it appears that we will have to do the same." Jiraya nodded reluctantly – his 'apprentice's words did have logic in them.

"So, who helps which group?" The white-haired self-proclaimed super-pervert asked.

"It's more likely than not that the one following the 'river' group is weaker, so I should be assisting that group." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied.

"I will go after the other one then." The toad sage said. "But..."

"I will leave this bird to your command." Naruto stated, guessing what his mentor was going to say. He gave Jiraya a curt nod and jumped off the bird, running through hand seals at the same time. "**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" A cloud of reddish smoke covered the blond shinobi. Moment later he flew out of it on the back of a small firebird.

**~/ *** \~**

Kiba wasn't having a good day. First, he was woken up before the dawn by Shikamaru – something spelling troubles in itself – and _asked_ to go on a mission to bring Sasuke back to the village. The team formed consisted of eight ninja, including him, and had only three chuunin in it. ...And they were going against three jounin-level shinobi... First Chouji and one of the chuunin separated to take care of a fat guy. Then Neji went against six-armed man, letting the rest of the team continue chasing after Sasuke. And just when the now five man team caught up with the last of Sasuke's _captors_, another one showed up. This forced the team to split again, and he and the second chuunin, Hokuto, were left to deal with the Orochimaru-serving woman, who turned out to be a crystal user... So neither his taijutsu, nor Hokuto's ranged weapons and earth jutsu were of much use against her.

And now the two of them, wounded and bleeding, unable to fight effectively, were running from that woman, who decided that killing them took precedence over rejoining her comrade... Suddenly his sensitive hearing picked up quiet rustle of the leaved. On pure instinct the Inuzuka heir ducked, and several crystalline senbon flew through the space his head was moments before. Hokuto threw a kunai with an explosive tag to where the senbon came from, but the explosion showed only that they were attacked by a clone.

"Damn!" Hokuto swore. Since the clone was advanced and could perform attacks, its creator more likely than not now knew where they were. The wounded chuunin motioned the equally wounded genin to continue moving in attempt to escape the crystal user. For about five minutes there was no sign of the Oto kunoichi and the two Leaf ninja started relaxing a little, but then Akamaru let out a quiet whine, saying that the enemy was really close. Moments later, the woman they were running from stepped from behind a tree in front of them, not even winded from her chase after them.

"For some little Leaf bastards you sure know how to run, but now I won't allow you escape me again." The woman said while doing hand seals for one of the crystalline jutsu. "**Shoton: ...**" But a stream of white-hot flames raining upon her from the skies forced her to cancel the jutsu before it was even launched and **kawarimi** away, lest she was burned into a crisp.

'_What the..._' This thought ran through the heads of both Kiba and Hokuto and Guren – that was the name of the Oto kunoichi... When the fire died down, there was a firebird the size of small elephant sitting on the ground with a blond shinobi in the dark-gray cloak standing on its back. The ninja jumped off the bird, and moments later it disappeared in a puff of reddish smoke.

"...Naruto?" Kiba asked, finally recognizing his classmate from the academy. The blond smiled.

"The one and only. Now, I believe, there is a snake I have to deal with..." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied.

"As if someone like you could do anything to me." Guren said self-confidently. "You are just another brown-nosed Konoha boy who thinks that looking cool makes you strong." The only reaction Naruto showed to her words was his geass activating in the left eye. Seeing that he won't be baited into doing something stupid, the crystal user flashed through hand seals. "**Shoton: hashou kouryuu!**" A dragon made from pinkish crystals rose from the ground and shot towards the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, who started doing hand seals for some doton ninjutsu, while at the same time bending fire into a purplish wall in front of him with his pyro kinesis. The firewall wasn't enough to stop the dragon, but it was enough to change its course away from Naruto, who had finished the hand seals and slammed his hands onto the ground.

"**Doton: yomi numa!**" A swamp appeared under the tree Guren was standing on, having it sink into muddy depth, thus forcing Oto kunoichi to move onto the safe grounds, before she could resume her attacks. Naruto used this time wisely, creating several fireballs and sending them after his opponent. Guren dodged them, thinking that they were ordinary katon jutsu... But when the fireballs turned out to be homing on her, the woman decided that dodging really wasn't the best tactic.

"**Shoton: shojun!**" A semi-sphere of the same pinkish crystals rose in front of the Oto kunoichi, effectively protecting her from the fireballs that dissipated hitting the wall, unable to damage crystals. "**Shoton: shinhou!**" Spikes grew on the outer surface of the crystalline shield, before being shot towards Naruto... This time the firewall was enough to stop projectiles. Growing frustrated with the way the fight was dragging, Guren decided to go for a higher tier jutsu. "**Shoton: shorin!**" About a hundred crystalline spikes sprang from under the ground, several of them impaling Naruto through his body... Only for it to disappear in a poof of smoke. "Shadow clone..." The Oto kunoichi said a bit dumbfounded. "When?"

"Just when I and my summon appeared there. You couldn't see me doing this because the flames hadn't completely died down at that time." Turning around Guren saw Naruto rising from under the ground. "And it was quite hard to manipulate fire for it to look like the clone created it." The blond shinobi added, before pausing again. "Oh, and by the way. I'm a clone too." And with those words, it exploded into a fireball the size of a two-store building. Guren was able to escape the little inferno with her life on pure reflexes, yet she got several nasty burns.

"Where are you brat? Show up and fight me like a man!" The woman shouted.

"How about no?" Was the response she got. The voice was chakra-enhanced and she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. Second later, several fireballs dropped from above. Again, only years of training in ninja arts and battle-honed reflexes saved Guren, as she quickly **kawarimi**'ed away. There was a pause in the battle as Guren didn't know where Naruto was, and he didn't want to reveal himself by creating fire. Then an idea occurred to the Oto kunoichi.

"If you don't show up, I will kill your comrades." She stated, creating a crystalline dagger in her right hand. There was a tense pause, before the same chakra-enhanced voice answered.

"No." At the same time Hokuto jumped at her from his position on the ground with speed no one could expect from a wounded man. Kiba, though, did a hand seal... And 'Hokuto' exploded, revealing that it was a shadow clone with a bunch of explosive tags hidden in the clothes. The explosion threw Guren across the clearing. Just as she was getting up, Naruto 'grew' out of the ground in front of her, creating a sword of purplish fire as soon as his left hand was free. With a quick swing, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki cut woman's feet off, making her fall on her ass, hissing in pain. Not giving her any chance to recover, he stabbed her through the stomach – fatal wound, though it wouldn't kill her instantly. Dispelling the fire sword, Naruto dropped a kunai with a time-delayed explosive tag into his enemy's wound, before walking away...

* * *

"Thank you for saving us, Naruto-san. And good job on switching us for your clones when she was distracted by those fireballs." Hokuto said, once the three of them were sitting by the river, Naruto recovering from the fight. Despite it being a relatively short one, he used a lot of chakra for his trick, almost always controlling fire from the maximum distance possible. "But it would have been better if I hadn't seen you using 'me' as a kamikaze." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki shrugged, before taking a couple of soldier pills form his pouch and swallowing them... Feeling his body re-energized, the blond shinobi spoke:

"I need to catch up with Jiraya – he went ahead to help the rest of the team – so I have to be going. But I have enough chakra to summon a firebird to carry you back to Konoha." The two wounded ninja nodded as Naruto did the necessary hand seals. "**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" Two firebirds appeared in clouds of reddish smoke. One was noticeably bigger than the other. "The bigger one is for you." The blond shinobi said jumping on the back of the smaller one. "I have to go now. Be safe." And the bird with Naruto took off.

**~/ *** \~**

It took fifteen more minutes from the point where he and his unofficial apprentice split their ways for Jiraya to reach the location of the last group of Konoha ninja that were sent to return Sasuke to the village. And the toad sage was quite thankful that he found them when he did and not a minute later: they were facing a Kaguya, one fully trained and in complete control over his bloodline, something no one below jounin could fight and live. And this one was even using the cursed seal he had on his chest... Deciding not to take any chances, Jiraya **shunshin**'ed off the bird, reappearing behind the Kaguya's back. The Oto nin, of course, sensed this and tried to attack the toad sage with his bone sword, but Jiraya wasn't a sannin for nothing, and ducked under the swing, showing a **rasengan** into man's stomach at the same time.

Even as good as he was, Kimimaro couldn't grow a bone armor this fast, so the chakra ball tore through his midsection, dealing a fatal wound, before throwing his still alive body across the clearing. Jiraya, though, wasn't done and flashed through hand seals.

"**Katon: endan!**" The toad sage exhaled a large fireball, incinerating the Kaguya before he even hit the ground. Sighing, the white-haired sannin turned around and studied the three ninja that fought the Kaguya previously... The Nara heir, Shikamaru, had a deep wound on his right shoulder and a hole through his leg muscles, but nothing truly life-threatening. The boy that looked like the clone of Maito Guy – what was his name? Rock... Li or something? - had some bleeding wounds on his chest and a broken arm, but also would live. The final member of the group though... That pink-haired brat that was always lusting after the Uchiha – Kaguya practically gutted her... Jiraya could see that she was still alive, but with the amount of blood she had lost, she had a minute in the world of living at best, as a veteran of a war, he could tell as much. Kneeling by the girls side, the toad sage pressed two fingers to her forehead and sent a pulse of chakra to block her sense of pain – letting her die 'in peace' was the most he could do for her... When Sakura drew her last breath, Jiraya read a short prayer and then sealed her body into a scroll. Done with that, the white-haired sannin went to the two boys to get the info about what happened before he got there.

It appeared that not long after the three of them caught up with the Kaguya, Sasuke's transformation – for the second level of the cursed seal – was finished and the Uchiha continued his way towards Orochimaru's lair on his own, while the Kaguya was dealing with Konoha ninja... Sakura was stupid enough to attack an opponent she knew nothing about head on, and paid for that. Shikamaru and Lee tried to team up to catch him with Nara's shadow possession, but failed as the opponent was too skilled for their level...

Jiraya just finished tending to their wounds when he saw a firebird approaching, with Naruto on its back. The toad sage waited for when his 'apprentice' landed by. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki looked pale and obviously under the effects of the soldier pill, but still determined to complete the mission.

"You can stop, Naruto. We did all we could." Naruto nodded, at the same time dismissing the firebird. Then the blond shinobi looked at Shikamaru and Lee, before turning his eye to his mentor.

"I thought that there were eight ninja sent after the Uchiha." He stated.

"There were casualties." The white-haired sannin replied. Naruto just nodded tiredly.

"I killed a shoton user that was after the other party and sent them to Konoha with my summon." Jiraya nodded.

"Very well. In that case, we too should head back to the leaf." The toad sage said, before adding: "These two had some nasty wounds. And while I did some first aid, they should be brought to Tsunade as soon as possible. And you look like you need some rest as well." Drawing some of his blood, The white-haired man flashed through hand seals, before slamming his hand onto the ground. "**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" When the clouds of smoke cleared, there was a giant toad in front of the four ninja. "Get on board." Jiraya said, as he leaped onto the toad's head. Naruto helped Shikamaru and Lee onto the summon's back, before sitting next to his mentor on the head of the toad. "Let's go." The white-haired sannin said, and the toad leaped away from the clearing and towards the Hidden Leaf village.

* * *

That's all, folks. Leave me a **review**!


	15. Leaving

Hello, everyone, here is the newest chapter for the "_**Pyro**_" story. Please, enjoy.

*** Review response**:  
**Reishin Amara**, maybe should have, maybe not... but it's already done this way.  
**Elemental Dragon Swordman**, heh. I know that was a bit predictable.  
**Hanzo of the Salamander**, **OBSERVER01**, **Fez8745**, thanks, folks!  
**Garuda 1 Talisman**, while Naruto does have a lot of chakra and he can access even more yoki that is Kyuubi's, his body can handle only so much of it, before it starts getting damage - it's not a chakra superconductor...  
**ogihcI ikasoruK**, read and find out.  
**alichi**, I'm not that cruel. But I think I will file this particular idea for a future use.

* **Jutsu list**:**  
Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'teleportation' jutsu.  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though...)

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own '_**Naruto**_' or any of it's characters... Same with the '_**Code Geass**_'

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

* * *

**Important**: I'm terribly sorry for this, but "_**Pyro**_" is put on hold due to my muse taking a vacation somewhere far away. Hopefully, it won't be much longer than normal 6-8 weeks long brake between chapters, but no guarantees there. Sorry.

* * *

Special thanks to _**NARUHAREM FOREVA **_for beta-reading this chapter.

* * *

**Pyro  
chapter 14: Leaving**

Opening his eyes after what felt like an eternity of sleep, Naruto was greeted with a cascade of dark-pink hair of his ...charge in front of his face, illuminated by the bright morning sun. Looking around the Kyuubi jinchuuriki confirmed his location – those the smell alone was a dead giveaway – to be Konoha general hospital. Tayuya was sleeping, curled on his chest, which meant that either Sarutobi or Jiraya had brought her here and took the stasis seal off her... Then the blond shinobi noticed something more: while him sleeping in the same bed with Tayuya became pretty normal, neither of them slept in the nude... Thus, the fact that he couldn't feel any clothes on the redhead's body meant that Jiraya would be facing an angry pyrokinesis-wielding jinchuuriki soon...

'_I shall burn his bits off for taking an advantage over and peeking at the incapacitated girl._' The young jinchuuriki thought angrily. On the second thought, paying the self-proclaimed super-pervert back could wait till he was back to the full power. With that thought on his mind, Naruto drifted back to sleep...

**~/ *** \~**

The day Haruno Sakura's funereal was bright and sunny – not a day good for mourning. But then again, the pink-haired kunoichi wasn't someone Naruto would mourn over. It's true that you speak either good about dead, or don't speak at all, but what good can be said about loud fangirl with barely any skills in ninja arts that attacked a ninja of unknown, but great, strength head on and died because of that?

Still, as a ninja who not only had graduated with Haruno and was a part of her team for some time as well as one of those who was on the mission that led to girl's death – well, on a parallel mission – Naruto had to attend the funereal... At least Tayuya was back at his home with two shadow clones to keep an eye on her: the redhead could be quite handful at the event like this...

Hokage made a long and unnecessary gaudy speech, after a cell of chuunin brought Sakura's coffin to the cemetery and opened it – since Sakura wasn't from one of the bloodline clans, she was just buried and not cremated. Once the elderly village leader finished his speech, he placed some flowers on the cerecloth that hid all but girl's head from the view, before stepping aside and letting others to say their final words to Sakura. Her parents and Ino let out entire tearful tirades, while the rest weren't as wordy, saying just a sentence or two to the dead girl, before stepping aside. Naruto just lay two flowers and, after giving a small and brief bow, joined those who had already told Sakura the final good bye. Once everyone was finished, the coffin was closed and then lowered into the grave. Hokage personally interred it with one of his many doton ninjutsu, before molding a gravestone from the earth.

People moved to a pavilion near the entrance to the cemetery to continue the burial ritual, but the Hokage and Naruto left at this point, claiming that they couldn't spend more time away from their duties...

**~/ *** \~**

Next morning Naruto found himself attending an arrangement even less pleasant than the day before. Namely, he was summoned to stand in front of the Konoha council, while the civilian part tried to find an excuse to execute or, at very least, banish him. And this time he couldn't leave his red-haired charge back at his apartment, meaning that the two of them had to be in the council chamber together...

"Naruto Uzumaki, do you know why you are standing in front of the honorable council of Konohagakure no Sato today?" One of civilian councilmen asked, glaring at the blond in front of him.

"I was not informed." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki answered. And that was true as the ANBU that brought him the summons to stand in front of the council never said why he had to do that. "But if I were to guess, it has something to do with the recent events." He said carefully, not wanting to sound like he knew what the councilmen will try to do.

"Indeed it has, you, spawn of the de-..." A glare from Naruto and the entire shinobi council was enough to remind the stupid man that that particular law was still in effect. "Ahem... Indeed it has. You are hereby stripped of any and all shinobi ranks you have, everything you own is confiscated in favor of the village and you are to be publicly executed tomorrow for selling Uchiha-sama to Orochimaru!" Naruto merely raised an eyebrow.

"And what gives you the right to do this?" He asked and, ignoring the shouts from the civilian councilmen, continued. "You can't put any punishment on me without a trial, at which I _must_ be present. And even then, it would require a majority of votes from both parts of the council and an agreement from Hokage-sama." The blond said, getting a nod of agreement from Sarutobi. "And since there was no trial, you can't do that." One of the first things Jiraiya had taught his apprentice were Konoha laws and now that knowledge came in handy for the young jinchuuriki.

"We are a part of the council! We can do anything we want!" The foolish man shouted back. Instantly, clan heads, Naruto and the Hokage started leaking killing intent powerful enough to make the fool wet himself... Of course, the Hokage's advisers and Danzou too wanted to either get rid of the blond or have him turned into a human weapon, but the three of them were clever enough not to open their mouths and say something stupid like that... Naruto himself slowly turned to face the elderly village leader.

"Mind if I get rid of those fools?" The Kyuubi jinchuuriki asked, the geass flaring into the existence in his left eye. At Sarutobi's nod, Naruto looked back the civilian part of the council, two balls of fire appearing in his hands. "Now, listen here..." The blond growled. "Konoha as a hidden village is an autocracy and so do not mistake Hokage-sama's generosity of delegating you some power for you being in a democratic society. Especially, the one where you can do whatever you want: the Hokage's word is a law that you all should obey. Those who disagree with this can either leave, and never return to this chamber, or they can taste my flames."

"How dare you threat the honorable council of Konohagakure no Sate, insolent whelp..." Another member of the civilian council yelled. A fireball the size of an orange flew past her head.

"I can because Hokage-sama allowed me to do this." Naruto replied. "As such, you can play by the rules set by Nidaime Hokage, or you can stop being the part of the council. Your choice." Surprisingly, no one left, but the faces of the civilian councilmen were far from happy with their sudden loss of the power.

"Now, we either have a trial, or Naruto Uzumaki is free to go as he pleases." Sarutobi said. Civilian councilmen, still a bit terrified by the blond voted for the trial nonetheless. "And what charges are you bringing against Uzumaki-san?" Hokage asked then. The civilian councilmen immediately started shouting various accusations, but it created so much noise that nothing could be heard clearly. In the end, Hokage flared his killing intent, making them all shut up that very moment. "Speak one by one, or I will have you removed." The old man hissed, clearly indicating his displeasure with the civilians of the council. The councilmen nodded quickly, not wanting to anger the village leader further. Sighing, Sarutobi pointed at a random member of the civilian part of the council. "Speak." He ordered.

"T-The boy... Uzumaki-san is believed to have sold Uchiha-sama to Orochimaru." Short and fat man that was the leader of the merchant guild spoke. Hokage nodded and looked at the head of the Yamanaka clan.

"Inoichi-san, please check Naruto's mind for any contact with Orochimaru." The blond jounin nodded and approached the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, before placing his hand on boy's head. A couple of minutes later the head of the 'Mental divers' subdivision of the I&T ANBU department removed his hand from Naruto's head.

"Uzumaki-san came in contact with Orochimaru twice. Once during the second test of the latest chuunin exam. He fought Orochimaru, but was defeated and, later, marked by the traitorous sannin with the cursed seal, but Kyuubi's power destroyed the cursed seal before it could completely integrate itself into Uzumaki-san's body. The second time he faced Orochimaru was during the invasion when Uzumaki-san destroyed the barrier and launched the counterattack, managing to wound Orochimaru. These are the only two times Uzumaki-san and Orochimaru met." Inoichi reported. The civilian council was about to make a fuss about the cursed seal, but Naruto bared his left shoulder and showed them the still present scarring around the place where the seal was placed by the snake sannin.

"As you can see, my body bears no mark of the cursed seal for it was rejected." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said, before hiding his shoulder back under his clothes. Hokage coughed into his fist to get everyone's attention.

"It appears that Uzumaki-san is not guilty of the crime he was accused of. Any other accusations?" The elderly man asked. Another civilian councilmen rose – this time it was the head of the civilian registration department – to make another try at getting Konoha rid of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

"He..." The man pointed at Naruto. "Conspires with a known enemy to take over our village." This actually made Hokage laugh as the 'known enemy' was Tayuya who by now was still was incapable of speaking with words.

"No. Uzumaki-san is watching over Tayuya-san on my orders after she was released from the I&T holding cells as she was deemed to be of no danger to the village." Inoichi nodded at this, since he was one of those who were responsible for the redhead's condition. "Any other accusations?" Sarutobi asked. A woman – Naruto wasn't sure why she even was on the council as she held no important role in the village – stood up and spoke:

"This de..." Seeing the young jinchuuriki's geass reactivate, the woman corrected her 'mistake', before it could have become fatal to her. "...Boy has killed one of the loyal Konoha shinobi during the failed mission of retrieving Uchiha-sama from Orochimaru's clutches." She stated. Hokage nodded and once again addressed to the Yamanaka clan head.

"Inochi-san, since you already have gone through Naruto's memories, please tell us, whether he had any part in the death of Haruno Sakura or not." Sarutobi said.

"No. Uzumaki-san had not even seen late Haruno-san until the funereal yesterday since the last week. And medical reports from Tsunade-sama clearly state that the girl had died from the severe wounds on her stomach and extensive blood loss." Inoichi reported. Hokage nodded, before addressing to the council:

"As you can see, Naruto is innocent of this accusation too. So, anything else, or should I just close this council session so that we all can return to our respective duties?" The elderly man asked. ...It appeared that the civilian part of the council wasn't finished with trying to have Naruto killed as another councilmen – and once again the Kyuubi jinchuuriki didn't knew why exactly the man was on the council – stood up and pointed his finger at the blond chuunin.

"He's the Kyuubi! That's enough to..." The man couldn't finish his sentence as a purplish fireball turned his head into ashes. As soon as everybody – other than Tayuya, who had a psychiatric reason for that – understood, what had just happened, the entire civilian side of the council was on their legs.

"We demand that thing to be executed for killing a member of the honorable council of Konohagakure no Sato!" The woman, who had accused Naruto of killing Sakura, yelled. That was a wrong thing to say as not only she found another fireball hovering in a foot in front of her face, but also, the chamber became so saturated with killing intent, that only the adrenaline in her veins prevented her from being knocked unconscious. The same, bar the fireball, was true to the rest of the civilian councilmen...

"Listen here." Hokage said, doing his damn hardest to remain calm. "That man had just broken an S-rank secret, punishable by death, and since the secret is about Naruto, both he and myself had the full right to kill the man where he stood. As such, not only shall Naruto not be punished, but he will also be paid a reparation of one hundred thousands ryo from Jin-san's money for breaking the secret."

"B-But... We are the council! We are above..." The woman shut up the moment Sarutobi doubled the amount of killing intent he was producing – an amount great enough for Naruto to feel some effects of it even though he was almost immune to it, thank to having the nine-tailed demoness sealed in his body.

"I'm the Hokage! My word is law there, the law everyone else must follow!" The elderly village leader replied, with such power behind his words that it was clear that he was the 'God of shinobi'... Taking a deep breath to calm down a bit, he continued in his neutral tone. "As such I shall install a new rule for the council of Konohagakure no Sato: from this moment on civilian part of the council is forbidden from attending meetings that do not directly affect the civilian population." No one was stupid enough to say a word against the Hokage. "ANBU, remove them." Three cells of ANBU appeared in the chamber and took the civilian councilmen away... "I should have done that years ago..." Sarutobi breathed out as he almost fell back onto his seat. Everyone, but Homura, Koharu and Danzou, agreed to that.

"While I do not accuse Uzumaki-san of anything, I still do not think that it is a wise decision to have him away from the village, where, no doubt, he will be the target for Akatsuki and other enemies of Konoha." The old war hawk said once he was sure that Sarutobi would at very least let him finish.

"While you are right about Naruto becoming a target for Konoha enemies when he leaves the village, he still would be the same target were he to continue residing in the village." The Third Hokage replied. "And having him remain the village, where he is not well liked would do us no good, as no one's patience is limitless." Danzou nodded, knowing well what could happen were Naruto to release the Kyuubi against the village – even Kumo's devastation at the hands of their previous Hachibi jinchuuriki would be nothing compared to this.

"I understand that, but the option of joining the program is always open for him: this way he would not only receive possibly the best training available, but also be shielded from the ...dislike of the village population." Danzou said smoothly, hoping that this will finally persuade the Hokage to let him turn the jinchuuriki into one of his Ne ANBU.

"Unfortunately, Uzumaki-san has chosen the career of the spymaster, thus he has to build his own spy network, and he can't do that while remaining in Konoha." The Hokage replied. "The matter is closed. Is there anything else anyone wants to add?" The shinobi councilmen shook their heads. "Very well, this council meeting is closed." Knowing that he needed a relaxation session with his tobacco and a certain orange book written by his student, Sarutobi **shunshin**'ed back to his office. Naruto with Tayuya in his arms left the chamber via a **dimensional shift** a moment later...

**~/ *** \~**

Only so many people came to the main village gates to say goodbye to Naruto. Mostly because only so many knew he was leaving today: Tsunade and Shizune, Kurenai, Sarutobi Hiruzen aka the Sandaime Hokage, the Konohamaru corps, Teuchi and Ayame... Well, that was all, but they were the people that Naruto cared about, and he needed no one else... Well, maybe Hinata and Shino, but they both had clan businesses and couldn't come. For the most part, the sendoff was spent in silence as no one really knew what to say... Finally, when it was almost time for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki to depart with his charge and his sensei, Tsunade came up to him and gave him a hug.

"Be safe." The slug princess said. Naruto nodded.

"Of course, who do you think I am baa-chan?" The blond sannin fumed silently about cheeky brats, while the adults laughed, knowing how big a trouble magnet Naruto was.

"Hope, I will see you again soon, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi said as he shook hands with the blond chuunin. Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon, who stood next to the Hokage, continued after the former's grandfather stepped back:

"Yeah, return soon, boss! And then show us some cool jutsu!" Naruto just smiled to the three kids. Seeing that all the goodbyes were now said, Jiraiya decided that it was time for them to leave Konoha.

"Alright, brat." He said to Naruto. "Let's go." Then he turned around and walked through the gates.

"Goodbye, everyone. See you." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said to those who came to see him off, before taking Tayuya's hand in his own and going after his white-haired sensei...

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That's all, folks!  
Leave me a **review**!

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**Importan****t**: I'm terribly sorry for this, but "_**Pyro**_" is put on hold due to my muse taking a vacation somewhere far away. Hopefully, it won't be much longer than normal 6-8 weeks long brake between chapters, but no guarantees there. Sorry.


	16. Gray witch and emotion weaver

Hello, everyone, here is the newest chapter of the "_**Pyro**_" story. Enjoy!

*** Review response**:  
**Elemental Dragon Swordman**, **ogihcI ikasoruK**, **Garuda 1 Talisman**, **OBSERVER01**, thank you for your reviews!  
**Impstar**, when Naruto's geass finally matures, Naruto would get some new powers (I have a list of those ready), and he will be able to use 'first' 'dragon' form without damaging his eyes as it won't require Kyuubi's yoki. (there will be 'second' 'dragon' form (this one using Kyuubi's yoki), which will still be damaging his eyes.)  
**Awsomeness7**, I still think that that color is too dark to truly be counted as pink, so Tayuya remains as the redhead in my story.

*** Jutsu List**:  
(unknown rank)** Warlord's stomp** - Earth-style ninjutsu that creates tremors in small radius to temporary stun enemies.  
**Doton: ganchuusou** - (unknown rank) Earth style: rock pillar spears - creates rock spears, nothing more, nothing less.  
**Kai** - (common jutsu) Release - cancels illusions with a burst of chakra.  
**Hoka sekai** - (unknown rank) Different world - one of the more powerful genjutsu that forces target to see what creator wants him/her to see.  
**Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu **- (C-rank) Fire style: great fireball - user exhales fire from his mouth.  
**Fuuton:**** d********aitoppa** - (C-rank) Wind style: great breakthrough - This jutsu creates a large blast of wind capable of leveling almost anything in its way.  
**Rasengan **- (A-rank) Spiral sphere - rasengan is a tight ball of compressed fast-rotating chakra (or yoki) that does tremendous drilling damage.  
**Hari jizou** - (B-rank) Underworld guardian spikes - user's hair hardens into a protective cocoon around him/her.  
**Hari jigoku** - (unknown rank) Hell needles - hardened hair fired towards the target.  
**Doton: Doryuudan - **(unknown rank) Earth style: earth dragon projectile - using chakra, user creates dragon head from mud. Dragon head will shoot mud balls at its taget.  
**Katon: karyuudan -**(unknown rank) Fire style: fire dragon missile – User breathes a stream of fire from the mouth

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**Disclaimer**: I DO NOT own Naruto or its characters

"speaking"  
'_thinking_'  
"**speaking of higher beings** / **Naruto while using ****yoki** / **jutsus** / **Iruka's 'demon head' speaking**"  
'_**thinking of higher beings**_'

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_This chapter is yet to be beta-read.  
This chapter also isn't that good as I was facing one writer's block after another lately, but, hopefully, you will find it to be at least readable...  
_

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**Pyro  
chapter 15: Gray witch and emotion weaver**

It was now about six months since Naruto left Konoha with Jiraya. So far, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was mostly training his political and information gathering skills, while creating his own spy network which sometimes intersected with his mentor's and sometimes not. Of course, the blond continued training in ninja arts and in control of his geass as well.

Meanwhile, Tayuya had mostly recovered from whatever Ibiki and his men did to her, and was even swearing sometimes now. Surely, Naruto to her now was the most trusted friend and more – though they hadn't gone as far as Jiraya would have liked... And since he deemed her ready, Naruto started training her to be ninja again – he didn't trust his mentor of self-proclaimed super-pervert there. Right now, the girl wasn't ready to fight alongside them, but after a single month of training she was back to the level of an average genin.

During the first months of their training Jiraya had taught Naruto the basics of the sealing and then moved onto the advanced stuff, so, right now, the two of them were trying to crack Tayuya's cursed seal. And since it was both completed – the redhead had had access to the second level – and it was used quite often in the past, there was some progress... But, months if not years of research were still needed to create a method to remove it – Orochimaru made the damn thing really hard to destroy...

**~/ *** \~**

Naruto entered a small caldera where he was training with his geass – at the same time, a small army of shadow clones was working on the new doton ninjutsu Jiraya gave him, while three more doppelgangers were with Tayuya working on redhead's taijutsu... As he reached the center of the caldera, where several large rocks were, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki suddenly felt a presence behind him. Turning around, kunai in his hands, he saw a green-haired girl sitting atop one of the stones, looking at him.

"You shouldn't do something like this. One day I may kill you..." He said, breathing out in relief and returning his kunai to its holster: there were no enemies around... The girl laughed.

"And you should already know, that killing me is impossible." The gray witch replied, as she gracefully jumped onto the ground. This time she was wearing a white top that was tight enough to show that there was nothing underneath it, short dark-blue shorts and thin dark-brown sandals. Damn, was she trying to seduce him? Or was it Jiraya's fault that he was seeing the girl in front of him this way? Shaking his head to remove unneeded thoughts, the blond shinobi asked:

"Is there a reason for this visit, or you are here just to say hello?" The gray witch approached him, stopping just a couple of steps away, and looked into his eyes.

"What, can't I just visit you?" She asked in a fake-hurt tone. "But, yes, I have a reason to be here. I can sense that you geass is ready to mature – it, actually, was like this since that chuunin exam of yours – but it doesn't level up for some reason." Deciding that she would understand more in this than he could ever hope to, Naruto simply activated his geass. The green-haired girl studied it for a couple of minutes, before making her verdict: "I don't understand why it is like this, but... It will mature eventually, and it's not like waiting will kill me." She said with a sigh. Naruto wasn't sure what to reply – he had a very limited experience in dealing with those who are immortal, limited to a single meeting with her prior today and his encounters with the Kyuubi – so he remained quiet.

As he continued training with his geass, the gray witch watched him, and soon the blond shinobi came to a conclusion that she wasn't about to leave yet, but, given who, or better what, she was, Naruto didn't mind her presence. And she seemed to be quite interested in what he was doing: apparently, only few thought about trying to expand the powers of their geass once they learned initial limits of the 'gift'... When the gray witch was still there in the late afternoon, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki decided that, being a gentleman, he should treat her a dinner. She accepted this proposition, as it was not like she was living ...existing according to some plan...

* * *

"I'm back, Tayuya-chan!" Naruto called as he entered the camp. As his perverted mentor went to the nearest city this morning, it wasn't likely that he would be back before tomorrow morning – there were hot springs in the city after all... – so the red-haired kunoichi was the only one there. The said redhead looked up from whatever she was cooking for their dinner.

"Welcome back, Naruto-sa-..." She said, before her eyes landed on the green-haired girl accompanying _her_ Naruto-sama. "Who's she?" Tayuya asked, while looking into blond shinobi's eyes.

"This is C.C." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied... During the day, the gray witch told him to call her like that. It wasn't her real name – she herself didn't remember it, or didn't want to – but a pseudonym that she used for millennia... "Otherwise know as the gray witch. She visited me to check on her gift." Naruto said, while pointing to his left eye, where his geass was. The redhead nodded slowly, still not trusting C.C. not to steal her 'master'...

The dinner was a strange affair with Tayuya torn between showing hospitality to the gray witch, because she was _her_ Naruto's guest, and glaring at the said green-haired girl to keep her from trying to steal him. At least she kept her colorful language in control and didn't swear in C.C.'s presence...

After the dinner, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki offered the gray witch to stay in their camp for the night. She agreed, much to Tayuya's displeasure, even if she didn't show it, as the redhead was (still) considering C.C. to be her rival for Naruto's love... And as much as the blond shinobi wanted the girls to make do with each other, he was still a bit thankful for the way they interacted – he was a hot-blooded male, and he would not miss a chance to have a girl he loves sleep on him in a nightgown that prevented him from neither seeing nor feeling what was underneath it...

The next morning, C.C. vanished from the camp before either Naruto or Tayuya woke up. The green-haired beauty was always like this, appearing and disappearing as she pleased, it seemed...

**~/ *** \~**

Naruto and Tayuya were walking through the plains of the Bird country, looking for a new place to train, as they had to leave the Mountain country a couple of weeks ago (Jiraya remained the city they had just passed to talk to his contact)... As they were nearing some small village out there, a group of six ninja without hitae-ate appeared in front of them. And all of them were at least chuunin level in their strength.

"Tayuya-chan. I want you to return to the city and tell ero-sennin to bring his perverted ass here ASAP." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said to his girlfriend as he himself assumed a fighting stance. As soon as she was on her way, he turned his full attention to the six in front of him. Five of them were males without any really distinguishing features, but the sixth member of the 'team' opposing him was a kunoichi with mid-back long pinkish-gray hair, made into two braids. She was also wearing quite stylish glasses, which made Naruto think that she either had one of the minor doujutsu, or was a geass user... "Who are you?" He asked them. That wasn't the right thing to ask...

"Why you little brat!" The kunoichi exploded. "How dare you not remember the Brotherhood!" It took the blond demon container a couple of seconds to understand what brotherhood she was talking about.

"Ah, so you are with that shield guy?"He asked, while shifting into an advanced defensive stance: at least three of his opponents were taijutsu and kenjutsu users, and his basic defensive stance wouldn't be enough against them..

"Grr... Kill that little shit!" The pink-haired kunoichi ordered. The five males of her 'team' did just that and charged at the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Naruto skillfully danced around their attacks, dodging all of them – evasion was one of the first things the self-proclaimed super-pervert taught to his apprentice – but the cuts still appeared on his body...

'_Genjutsu!_' Apparently, despite the nine-tails sealed in him, he still could be affected by some illusions. Since he still couldn't dispel those without stopping to get a better control over his chakra flow, the blond shinobi resorted to using **warlord's stomp** – one of the sealless doton ninjutsu; it created a small earthquake to stun your opponents. As only one of the enemy ninjas he was engaging in the combat was affected, he also was the only real one. Naruto quickly flashed through handseals. "**Doton: ganchuusou!**" A stone spear shot from the ground, impaling the man, but he turned into a log moments later... Since his only real opponent was currently far enough from him, the blond shinobi now had enough time to dispel the illusion properly. "**Kai!**" The illusory ninjas disappeared, revealing that Naruto had indeed fought only one member of the brotherhood, while the rest hadn't moved from their positions...

"You broke my **Hoka sekai** illusion. Not bad for a brat. But you still don't stand a chance against the might of the brotherhood!" The pink-haired kunoichi said arrogantly. "Destroy him!" Two of male members of the brotherhood drew their swords before attacking the blond, but he parried their weapons with his kunai. Another two of Naruto's opponents ran through their handseals.

"**Katon: goukakyuu no jutsu!**"

"**Fuuton: daitoppa!**" Wind technique amplified the fireball, turning it into a real machine of destruction. The 'swordsmen' jumped away from the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, not wanting to be cremated by the overpowered fireball... The fireball though broke into two parts and, after making a circle around the Konoha shinobi, shot at the 'swordsmen', who had to do their best to keep evading the fire.

"So you are a geass user." The pink-haired kunoichi observed from her position. "In this case, I'll have to step up in our little fight." As she said that, she removed her glasses and, closed her eyes. A second later she opened them, revealing a geass in her left eye. "Show me what you can do, brat!"

'_Damn!_' Naruto swore in his mind. He now had to fight against a geass of unknown power, while he had already exposed the pyrokinetic abilities of his own. Hell, he didn't even knew what _type_ of a geass this kunoichi had!.. As the first opponent he fought rejoined the fight, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki had to recall fire from attacking the 'swordsmen, as he needed it for protection against a combined assault from one taijutsu user and two ninjutsu ones... The wall of purplish fire made the unarmed combat master of the Brotherhood to stop, lest he wanted to be burned to ashes; and at the same time the wall protected the blond shinobi from a lightning bolt and a wind blade sent to kill him. Transforming the firewall back into the fireballs, Naruto sent those towards the 'swordsmen', but the two dodged this attack... And this was starting to irritate the blond demon container.

As the fight continued, the irritation Naruto felt was changing into an anger. Anger at his opponents for being so damn hard to hit, anger towards Tayuya and Jiraya for still not being there to back him up – while he was strong, he wasn't anywhere near strong enough to fight six chuunin and walk away on his own.

'_**Snap out of it, brat!**_' The nine-tailed demoness ordered from within his subconscious.

'_Snap out of what, Kyuubi_' Naruto shot back. But as soon as he 'said' that, he understood what his shishou meant. Unfortunately, the realization caused him to pause for a moment, which almost cost him his life – he dodged the kunai thrown at his head at the very last moment. '_Sorry, Kyuubi-shishou._'

'_**Your emotions were controlled, so I will let this slide. But only now.**_' The demoness replied. '_**Now calm down and show these little bastards how you can fight.**_' Naruto nodded in his mind.

'_Damn, I wasted a lot of chakra now... I still have enough to last until ero-sennin arrives, but I'll have to be thrifty._' Evading the attack from two 'swordsmen', Naruto jumped back to put some distance between him and his opponents. "So, your power is control over others' emotions." He said, glaring at the pink-haired kunoichi.

"So you figured it out, huh." She replied, sounding a bit amused actually. "But don't think that this will change anything for you, blondie: you are still going to die for what you did to the Brotherhood!" Naruto shook his head: even though he had used more than a half of his humongous chakra reserves, and was covered with cuts and minor burns, he was still a very dangerous opponent. And it was not like the members of the Brotherhood were in a better shape...

The fight continued, and even though the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was trying to keep his emotions in check, it wasn't easy as he still could feel the geass of his enemy trying to take control. Of course, the pink-haired kunoichi was trying to catch him with her genjutsu attacks as well, while subordinates were doing their best to kill him with ninjutsu or physical attacks, but thanks to the nine-tailed demoness, those illusions were broken as soon as they tried to affect Naruto's mind – the Kyuubi wasn't stupid enough to think that her container could fight five chuunin while also dispelling the illlusions and battling for the control over his emotions.

During the next ten minutes of the fight, Naruto managed to burn one of the swordsmen of the Brotherhood to a crisp when the man made a mistake of getting too close to the fire the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was controlling. And the blond shinobi also wounded 'wind' ninjutsu user deeply by making one of the fireballs explode on the ground and, thus, sending some 'shrapnel' towards the man.

He himself too was getting more and more wounds as the fight progressed, but thanks to the Kyuubi, those were healing fast and he could continue fighting despite everything. Or... Even though two of the six were down, the members of the Brotherhood were successfully landing more and more hits on Naruto with each minute passed, and if the things would continue like this, eventually, they would kill the blond jinchuuriki...

"**Rasengan!**" Jiraya, clearly displeased with his peeping time being cut short, slammed the blue ball of quickly spinning chakra into the head of the taijutsu user of the Brotherhood, whose attack Naruto barely dodged just a moment ago, killing the man instantly. 'Throwing' his apprentice behind him (and into Tayuya's embrace), the self-proclaimed super-pervert quickly flashed through a couple of handseals. "**Hari jizou!**" The mane of his white hair wrapped around him and hardened into a spiky armor that easily protected the toad sage from the 'swordsman's' attack. "**Hari jigoku!**" Not giving the man a chance to react, Jiraya switched to offensive, firing a hail of hardened spikes from point blank. His immediate opponent lost his life before he could even blink.

"**Katon: goukakyuu no jutsu!**" The remaining ninjutsu user tried to attack the sannin, while he was busy and not looking in this direction, but Jiraya wasn't one of the best ninja of Konoha for nothing... A block of dirt rose in front of the toad sage, protecting him from the attack, and once the fireball was of no more danger to him, the white-haired super-pervert released the wall of dirt, reforming it into two dragon heads that immediately started spewing mud projectiles at the members of the Brotherhood that were still alive.

"**Katon: karyuudan!**" Jiraya exhaled a long stream of white-hot fire to amplify the power of his **doton: doryuudan** attack... The pink-haired geass-using kunoichi barely evades the combined jutsu, while her remaining teammates weren't as lucky, and not were on their way to Shinigami-sama's office... The toad sage blurred away, before reappearing behind her back a moment later. "**Rasengan!**" The kunoichi let out a silent scream as the ball of chakra drilled its way through her back. "Huh..." Jiraya sighed, canceling the jutsu and letting the now-dead body fall on the ground. "You OK, brat?" He asked then.

"Tired and a bit wounded, but I'll be alright." Naruto, still in Tayuya's embrace, replied.

"And what did you learn from this skirmish?" The self-proclaimed super-pervert asked, while obviously thinking how to include what he saw while he was peeping back in the city.

"I should destroy my opponents before they get a chance to destroy me. I should not let my emotions out of control, as uncontrolled rage clouds judgment and causes one to spend chakra much faster. And I should not enter a fight with big groups of opponents if I don't have territorial advantage, like traps prepared, or an element of surprise." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied.

"Good, at least you're learning from your mistakes." Jiraya replied, before he started waking. "Now get up, we need to find another place for you to train." Naruto only groaned in response, but did as his mentor said...

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That's all, folks!  
**Read** and **Review**!


	17. Powerup and removing seals

Hello, everyone, here is the newest chapter of the "_**Pyro**_" story. Enjoy!

*** Review response**:  
**Awsomeness7**, ok.  
**Elemental Dragon Swordman**, **Collin Oshea**, thanks.  
**Goldrune09**, hopefully this chapter is better. (even if my inspiration hasn't returned yet).

*** Jutsu List**:  
**Doton: ganchuusou** - (unknown rank) Earth style: rock pillar spears - creates rock spears, nothing more, nothing less.  
**Suiton: suiryuudan no jutsu** - (B-rank) Water style: water dragon projectile technique - creates a water-made dragon head to attack the target.  
**Katon: endan** - (C-rank) Fire style: fireball - user breathes out a fireball.  
**Hari jigoku** - (unknown rank) Hell needles - hardened hair fired towards the target.  
**Doton: Doryuudan - **(unknown rank) Earth style: earth dragon projectile - using chakra, user creates dragon head from mud. Dragon head will shoot mud balls at its taget.  
**Katon: dai-endan** - (B-rank) Fire style: big fireball - more powerful version of the **Katon: endan** technique.  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though...)  
**Kage bushin** - (A-rank) Shadow clone - creates solid chakra-made copy of user (to be destroyed shadow clone must get moderate damage). Shadow clones have perfect copy of user's mind and memory. When dispelled, shadow clones return experience of their 'life' to user. Shadow clones split user's chakra by clones number +1 (if you create 3 clones you'll have only 1/4 of chakra left (minus chakra needed to create clones)) that's why they are mostly used for information gathering.

* **AN**: This is the part of my Christmas updates (hopefully, I'll be able to do that for my every story)... So, merry Christmas, everyone!

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**Disclaimer**: I DO NOT own Naruto or its characters

"speaking"  
'_thinking_'  
"**speaking of higher beings** / **Naruto while using ****yoki** / **jutsus** / **Iruka's 'demon head' speaking**"  
'_**thinking of higher beings**_'

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_This chapter is yet to be beta-read.  
And it is much shorted than the rest, but it ...had to be like this, ok?  
_

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**Pyro  
chapter 15: ****Power-up and removing seals**

Naruto jumped to the left, avoiding a mud projectile sent by an earth dragon, and replied with a fireball that destroyed the construct. Too bad, a new earth dragon rose in place of the fallen one, so the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was still under fire.

"You need to do better than this." Jiraya taunted, before using one of the low level water jutsu he knew to attack his apprentice. The blond dodged it, and flashed through handseals.

"Shut up! **Doton: yomi numa!**" The area quickly turned into a big muddy swamp. This caused the earth dragon to cease existing as it sprawled onto and then and sank into the liquid dirt. "Take this!" Several small fireballs formed in front of Naruto, before zooming towards the toad sage at an incredible speed. The white-haired man, though, dodged them all easily, and created a mud version of the **suiton: suiryuudan no jutsu**. His apprentice replied with the copy of that technique.

"Better, but not enough." Jiraya taunted, while doing some handseals. "**Katon: endan!**" And while the blond shinobi was busy taking control over it with his geass, the sannin get ready to fire another jutsu: "**Hari jigoku!**" A hailstorm of hardened hair flew towards the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, but were stopped by a purplish wall of fire that rose in front of the blond youth... While Naruto was busy protecting himself from his mentor's attacks, the white-haired super-pervert performed a technique to cancel the swamp, before using the once again solid ground to create several rock pillars around the blond, more or less trapping him where he stood. "Is that all you can do, brat?" He asked, still taunting the Kyuubi jinchuuriki as he wanted to see how much progress he had made.

"Not by a long shot, ero-sennin!" Naruto replied, as he sliced through the stone pillars with a blade of condensed fire that he had created around his left hand. "**Doton: ganchusou!**" He created several rock spikes underneath Jiraya, but the man just stood on the tip of one of the spikes.

"Ha ha ha!" He laughed, but that ended quickly and rather comically as the blond jinchuuriki shattered the spike he was standing on. "A-ah!"

"**Doton: doryuudan no jutsu!**" An earthen dragon head, not unlike the ones the white-haired sannin had used against him not long ago, rose from the ground and started spitting mud projectiles at the 'super-pervert'. "And now time for some fire!" And Naruto summoned a multitude of small fireballs, before sending them towards Jiraya, who, for once, had to stop joking around and start dodging seriously.

"You call that fire? How about this? **Katon: dai-endan!**" A huge fireball flew towards the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, followed closely a stream of flames trailing along the ground... Using the powers of his geass the blond shinobi protected himself from the fires, but just as he was ready to counterattack, he had to jump back to avoid being pierced by the rock spears Jiraya had created. These spears also destroyed the earth dragon the blond had created.

"Grr." Naruto growled, before hitting the ground, while using one of the simpler doton ninjutsu to create tremors, hoping to make his mentor lose his footing for a moment. It worked. Almost... But that still was enough for the blond to almost hit the white-haired sannin with a moving rock slab: Jiraya had destroyed with a punch when it got too close to him. But, still, this attack had provided the Kyuubi jinchuuriki with the window of opportunity and he used it to create two fire elementals (his geass allowed him to create them, but unlike the summoned ones, these will completely disappear when destroyed or out of chakra).

As the two creatures charged at Jiraya, their creator called forth several small fireballs, that then were too sent at the white-haired sannin. While the self-proclaimed super-pervert was dealing with those, Naruto did a **dimensional shift** to get behind him and readied another fire blade. Jiraya sensed that and forfeited.

"Not bad, gaki. You've just dealt with a low to mid A-rank opponent... but we still have a lot of work: you need to be ready to fight two S-rank opponents simultaneously and either win or, at least, escape with your life." Naruto groaned. Why was his progress so slow? It was a year and a half since he left Konoha for this training trip, and he had only advanced from mid B-rank to mid to high A-rank so far.

The worst part was that Jiraya had taught him pretty much everything he could – the rest were toad techniques that required signed contract – and the only way to become stronger for the blond was sparring with his mentor to gain experience. But... Naruto's geass still hadn't matured, so he'll get a power-up once it finally did. A power-up that could possibly make him (finally) and S-rank ninja...

* * *

Naruto and Jiraya had made some good progress breaking the cursed seal, but still it would be some time before they will be able to remove one – if that will be possible at all with they way they were trying to do it now.

Speaking of the cursed seals... Tayuya was becoming pretty strong even without using hers, and was already approaching mid B-rank all on her own, thanks to the arsenal of nasty acoustic illusions she had developed (some of those were so good that even the Kyuubi herself needed a moment or two to break them). The red-haired kunoichi was also learning healing techniques, which she was quite good at, thanks to her good chakra control, and, finally, she was experimenting with ninjutsu that used a weaponized sound waves.

* * *

Their ninja training aside, Naruto and Tayuya were now an item, though, they never let the pervert that trained them to know how far they've gone, which frustrated him to no end, especially since the two now seemed to be practically immune to teasing as he couldn't get a rise out of them. In truth, though, Naruto and Tayuya had already had their first time and ever since then they were doing _it_ pretty much every other night when the ero-sennin wasn't there to spy on them... Which meant once or twice a month.

**~/ *** \~**

In the next seven months Naruto finally reached the level where he could defeat a single S-rank opponent – that didn't mean that he could beat Jiraya if he fought his full strength... but some 'smaller' fries he could... The reason for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki gaining so much power was his recently matured geass, which gave him some new powers:

First of all, he now could create fire at will, no longer requiring a source, like those seals Sandaime drew for him, to do that. Another ability he gained was absorbing fire, and converting it into his chakra, though only the most powerful of the fires could give him more energy than he used to power the absorption ability. And, finally, a the mature geass gave Naruto heat vision, which was a great asset in his latest spars with Jiraya, as the man's invisibility technique was no longer useful against the Kyuubi jinchuuriki... Of course, Naruto was sure that there were more abilities, but he hadn't discovered them yet.

* * *

The most amazing progress Naruto and Jiraya had made in the last months, though, was finally cracking Orochimaru's cursed seal. Of course, there were several conditions that needed to be met in order to destroy the thing, but still...

And since the redhead had changed, she agreed, that she'll be better without that mark the snake sannin had placed on her body... The fact that the destruction of the cursed seal will have of its powers assimilated into her was just a bonus. Now all that they needed was to find a secluded location where no one will disturb them during the ritual or its preparations... This meant that they should not be anywhere near Orochimaru's lairs. In other words, they have to travel quite a distance as currently they were in the Rice field country, which was known as the main location of the Hidden Sound village, the one owned by the snake sannin.

* * *

Three weeks later the three travelers finally reached the Bird country, which, thanks to being between Wind and Earth countries, was considered to be 'Orochimaru-safe' zone as even someone as slippery as him wouldn't dare do anything funny there...

Once Jiraya, Naruto and Tayuya found a nice and secluded valley among the mountains, Naruto once again asked his girlfriend, whether she was really willing to get rid of the mark, while telling her some of the possible side-effects of the ritual, such as a change in her appearance or a temporary problems with chakra control, while her body readjusted to the powers assimilated from the destroyed seal. And, of course, no matter what, removing that stain _will_ hurt like hell. The red-haired kunoichi just shrugged and replied that it didn't for as long as she would be finally free from her past as a lackey of the snake sannin.

So Naruto and Jiraya began preparing the ritual, which required a big and rather complex sealing array. It also required four sources of chakra to run in the initial stages, but Naruto could easily cover that with his shadow clones... Several hours later, once the preparations were finished, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki once again approached the redhead.

"So, are you really willing to go through it?" He asked. "Once we begin, there will be no way way back, Tayuya-chan." The girl nodded.

"Of course I'm ready. Do you think I'll be scared by something as simple as that, Naruto-_sama_?" Was her reply. The blond geass user nodded.

"Then, please, change into your second level of the cursed seal." Seeing the hesitation in her eyes, he elaborated: "The rituals requires the cursed seal to work at its full power. I know that this will alert Orochimaru that your are indeed still alive, but there is nothing he can do about that..." This calmed her down, but just a bit. "And don't worry, I'll love you just the same, no matter what you look in that form." He said, while enveloping her in a hug. This reassurance seemed to be enough, as the red-haired kunoichi nodded and stepped back out of his embrace, before unleashing the power of her cursed seal. Naruto watched the transformation with interest as he had never seen her second level (or even the first one) before...

First, Tayuya entered the first level, which consisted of black lines made of triangles spreading all over her body. Then she ascended to the second level: the lines turned fiery red and orange and expanded, till the it was covering her entire body, and then it all settled into the new, reddish-brown color of her skin. Her eyes turned yellow and slightly slitted, while her whites became dark-gray, almost black. Her hair became slightly lighter shade of pink, and grew in length quite a bit, now reaching her butt, which along with her chest seemed to become bigger, making her figure more hourglass-like... Finally, there was a set of horns appearing on her head, making Tayuya look like some kind of a succubus or, maybe, some other kind of a demoness.

Once her transformation was complete, the redhead did another step back, looking dithered as she still was not sure that he will accept her like this. Naruto, though, didn't seem to mind this 'new' look of hers as he came up to her and, wrapping his hands around her (now much more shapely) body, kissed her fiercely and passionately.

"You are beautiful, Tayuya-chan." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki whispered to her, once they stopped kissing. He did a step back and studied her new form, noticing that with her bosom growing a cup or even two, her shirt was now rather tight, giving him quite an erotic visage. Shaking his head to remove the thoughts he didn't need at the moment – it seemed that Jiraya somehow succeeded in turning him into a pervert – Naruto told his girlfriend to remove her shirt as he needed to draw the final part of sealing array around the place where her cursed seal was. For him she readily did that, going as far as giving him a small show as she removed the top part of her clothes, now that she was sure he will not reject this her.

It took the blond shinobi about ten minutes to complete the array, and once he did, the two of them returned to the clearing, Tayuya holding her shirt in front of herself to keep certain white-haired super-pervert from from seeing her breasts. The said super-pervert, though, was too busy checking that the sealing array on the ground didn't have any mistakes in it. But once he sensed them in the clearing, he stood up and walked around them to see that the seal on Tayuya's back was correct as well.

"Are you ready for your freedom, Tayuya-chan?" Jiraya asked, once he was sure that there were no mistakes. The red-haired kunoichi nodded. "Well, step into the center of the array... and prepare yourself." Then turned to Naruto, who, already knowing what was expected of him, made a cross-shaped handseal.

"**Kage bunshin!**" In poofs of smoke two shadow clones of him appeared, and immediately went to the corners of the array that their creator assigned to them. The real Naruto and Jiraya took the remaining two corners... With the redhead already sitting in the center of the big seal and seemingly ready for anything, they were now ready to begin.

"**Fuuin!**" The toad sage said, and he and all of the Narutos poured their chakra into the array, making it glow with deem red light. For a moment everything was quiet. Then Tayuya screamed as the cursed seal was being ripped out of her body...

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That's all, folks!  
**Read** and **Review**!


	18. Return of the Jinchuuriki

Hello, everyone. I finally made an update for the "_**Pyro**_" story. Hope, you'll enjoy it.

*** Review response**:  
**Muroshi**, lol. Still, he had just infra-red vision. It's still useful, isn't it?  
**Elemental Dragon Swordman**, will this chapter be enough of an answer to you? I hope so, but in short, Tayuya will be OK.  
**ogihcI ikasoruK**, **Richy1991**, **Alphawolfy288**, **OBSERVER01**, **blasterdog**, thank you for your reviews, folks!  
**Awsomeness7**, not sure, not sure. I this story, anyway, she doesn't.

*** Jutsu list**:  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though...)**  
****Kawarimi** - (E-rank) Substitution technique - user replaces himself with a nearby object.  
**Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'teleportation' jutsu.  
**Fuuton: reppushou** - (C-rank) Wind style: gale wind palm - a powerful gust of wind. Ofter used to make the projectiles fly faster and become deadlier.  
**Doton: yomi numa** - (A-rank) Earth style: swamp of the underworld - This jutsu creates vast swamp. If someone happens to be where the swamp is created, he will sink and, if swamp is deep enough, may be killed.  
**Doton: deiryuudan no jutsu** - (?-rank) Earth style: mud dragon technique - same as **Suiton: suiryuudan no jutsu**, but the dragon is made form mud not water.  
**Katon: haisekishou** - (B-rank) Fire style: burning ash accumulation - user exhaled a cloud of combustive mist, which is then detonated.  
**Hakke kuushou** - (?-rank) Eight divination signs eight palms - one of the only ranged classic juuken attacks.

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**Disclaimer:** still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

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This chapter is NOT beta-read

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**Pyro  
chapter 16: Return of the jinchuuriki**

"I'm so bored..." One of the chuunin guards at the gates groaned as he sprawled over the desk. His partner, didn't answer and only nodded in agreement... The two were about to doze off, when they noticed two figures on the road heading towards the Konoha gates.

One of the figures was a tall blond teen with blue eyes and whisker-like marks on his cheeks. He was wearing a rather short deep-red jacket over black jounin-style body armor and black pants with a piece of same-red cloth attached to them from behind. The young man's protector indicated that he was a Konoha shinobi, though, as neither of the gate guards couldn't remember ever seeing him before, he must have been out of the village on a long-term mission or something. Well, its not like they cared about that...

His partner, though, was the one who really got their attention: she was a girl with waist-long red hair, honey-yellow eyes and skin so swarthy that it appeared to be dark-bronze in color. And most noticeably, the girl had a pair of small white horns on her head, mostly hidden by her hair... The redhead was wearing a gray battle kimono with red flame pattern on its left side and a thin and light chain-mail under it. On her belt there were several moderately large pouches and a dagger in sheathe. Unlike her partner, she didn't have a hitae-ate, but just by the way she behaved, it was clear that she had the same affiliation as he did.

Even if they were walking at the regular pace, the duo soon reached the gates and the chuunin there, finally completely awake, stepped out of their booth.

"Halt." One of the gate guards said. "Show your identifications." The arriving pair silently showed their identifications to them, confirming that they indeed were registered shinobi of the Hidden Leaf village. "You may enter." The second chuunin said at his colleague's nod.

"Thank you." The blonde said, before wrapping his hand around his partners waist. "To the Hokage tower, right, Tayuya-chan?" He asked. The red-haired girl – Tayuya – nodded and a moment later the pair disappeared via some time-space technique with only wisps of darkness fading into nothingness where they were moments ago...

* * *

Naruto and Tayuya appeared in front of the administrative complex moments later and headed straight to the Hokage office, located on the top floor of the main tower there. Surprisingly enough, despite it being an early afternoon, there were no people in the corridors waiting for their appointment with the village leader, even if according to Shizune, whom they met on their way there, Hokage wasn't having any meetings at the moment.

So, after politely knocking on the door, Naruto opened it and walked into the office, Tayuya following him closely behind. But just a couple of steps later, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki froze, when he finally noticed who was wearing the Hokage hat. For some reason, Tsunade Senju was being bored out of her mind by the tons of documents on her table. The blond fire-master shook his head, but the slug princess was still there, filling in the role of the Hokage. Though now he noticed old Sarutobi Hiruzen in a corner reading an ancient-looking scroll.

"Stop staring at me, brat." Tsunade barked. "Yes, I'm now the Hokage." She added then in a significantly more quiet voice, while Sarutobi chuckled from his corner... Naruto shook his head again, still trying to understand what had happened there, and why neither white-haired super-pervert nor his own spy network informed him about this. Finally deciding that he could learn this a bit later, the young jinchuuriki spoke:

"Yeah, anyway, Jiraya sent me here to give you our reports,.." With these words he unsealed a sizable scroll and tossed it to Tsunade. "And he also wanted me to pass my special jounin exams – said something about it making my job easier." The new Hokage nodded: for once her boob-obsessed teammate was giving a valuable advices to the new generation.

"Yes, we will organize a jounin trials for you, Naruto-kun." The old man Sarutobi said from his corner, finally looking away from the scroll he was reading. "And for your lovely girlfriend wants one too, I think that can be arranged as well." Tayuya blushed, though with how dark her skin was, it wasn't very noticeable. After thinking for a couple of seconds, the redhead nodded. "Good." The Third and, now twice retired, Hokage said. "We will send you a messenger when everything is organized... Now, I sure you both are tired from your way there, so why don't you have a day off today?"

"Thank you." The blond jinchuuriki replied, before asking: "Will that be all for now?" Sarutobi nodded in response. "By your leave, then."

**~/ *** \~**

For the next two and a half days Naruto and Tayuya had a good chance to prepare for their upcoming jounin exams. Of course, the young couple didn't spend all of their time training and dedicated quite a lot of time to each other. In the ways that would make Jiraya die from being so proud of his students... Still, by the time the messenger to summon them to their examinations arrived on the dawn of their fourth day in Konoha, the duo was more than ready for whatever the proctors might throw at them.

When they arrived to the Konoha stadium where the chuunin exam had being held, they were greeted by Sarutobi and Tsunade, as well as a group of jounin and a single ANBU wearing the cat mask. Three of the jounin were sensei of the so-called 'Konoha 9' and those two that weren't were Anko and, what came as a bit of a surprise to Naruto, Neji.

"Welcome to you special jounin examination, Naruto-san, Tayuya-san." The Third Hokage said. "You will be judged by us based on your performance against these fine ninja in the specific tasks that they had set up for you." So far the rules of the exam seemed to be quite transparent, so both Naruto and Tayuya nodded. "Of course, you must understand that this is only combat-related part of the exam, and your knowledge will be tested tomorrow, at the I&T deparment. Finding out where exactly it will be held is also a part of that test." Sarutobi added.

"But right now, we shall begin with the 'practical' part." Tsunade continued for her sensei. "Naruto, you will be tested first." The blond shinobi just nodded.

"I will be your first proctor." Said Asuma as he did a step forward from the line that the jounin were standing in. "At some point of our ...spar, Neko-san will take the relay from me." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded once again. "Very well, in this case we shall begin." The bearded jounin said as he headed towards the center of the arena, while the rest of the 'proctors' and Tayuya moved to the stands instead.

As soon as the 'spectators' were at the safe distance, Asuma sent a powerful wind jutsu at Naruto without a warning: the real enemy wouldn't warn either, after all. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki, though, dodged this attack rather easily, before slamming his palms against the rough ground, causing several stone spikes to burst from it in attempt to pierce the bearded jounin. But the man wasn't so bad that he'd be caught by this rather simple counterattack: all the stone spikes hit was a log that Asuma used for his **kawarimi** technique.

From the trees the sensei of the Ino-Shika-Chou trio threw a kunai with the explosive tag attached, hoping to test Naruto's defenses with this. And he was quite surprised when a demonic-looking hand, made entirely out of fire, 'grew' out of the blonde's back and caught the projectile, causing the explosive tag to detonate at the same time. Then the hand turn the throwing knife, now red-hot, around and threw it back to where it came from... All the while Naruto wasn't even looking in this direction.

Appearing behind Naruto, Asuma threw some kunai and shuriken at him, before using a **fuuton: reppushou** jutsu to make the projectiles fly faster... Naruto's fiery hand, in response, morphed into a shield that was solid enough to reflect the metal away. And as soon as the last projectile had bounced off the shield, it 'bubbled', before unleashing a wave of small fireballs in the general direction of the bearded jounin, who once again had to use substitution to stay out of the harm's way.

"Your ability to use fire both defensively and offensively is quite impressive, Naruto." Asuma said. "But, from what I read in your file, it is not a true ninjutsu, so... you still have to show me more than those rock spears if you want to pass my test." So he was tested in ninjutsu... The blond fire-master replied with an annoyed groan, before turning around so that he was now facing his opponent and putting his hands against the ground.

"**Doton: yomi numa!**" A moment later almost entire arena was turned into one bit muddy swamp, at least twenty feet deep. Unfortunately for the blond, the jounin he was facing was standing atop of the swamp using water-walking skill. "**Doton: deiryuudan no jutsu!**" Several dragon heads burst from the surface of the swamp and went after Asuma, but he easily dispatched them with several wind blades.

"That's more like it!" The bearded ninja said, before he was forced to dodge by the two earthen dragon heads that were spitting mud projectiles at him. "**Katon: hiasekishou!**" Asuma whispered as he charged past the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, while exhaling a huge cloud of the grayish mist. Then the jounin clicked his teeth together, making the cloud explode... But the explosion was not at all like he expected it to be: it looked like the fire of the explosion had been absorbed by Naruto, who now could be seen again through the smoke created by the explosion. And the blond didn't even have a burnt mark on him.

* * *

"What?" Back in the stands Tsunade asked, voicing everybody's question: after all everyone saw that Naruto was at the very epicenter of the explosion, yet he was completely unharmed by it.

"Naruto-sama has many unique abilities, associated with fire." Tayuya replied, adding a rather hot purr to her mate's name's honorific. "One of those is his ability to absorb fire and heat from his surroundings. Depending on what he absorbs, it may even recharge his chakra reserves instead of using them up. In other words, using fire techniques against him is useless even if he doesn't take control over them."

This shocked the ninja present quite a lot. After all, from what Tayuya said, if Naruto knew that he was under attack and had at least some chakra, no matter where it came from and no matter how powerful it was, any fire technique used against him will fail. He had a really perfect defense against fire.

* * *

Back on the arena, Asuma was trading jutsu with Naruto. He hadn't heard what Tayuya explained to the rest of the proctors, but after three of his fire techniques were either absorbed or just thrown back at him, he still came to a conclusion that using fire against the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was useless. And since his only other element was wind, he really had nothing but his experience over the blonde. So, Asuma gave a signal for Neko ANBU to take the test there from him.

Moment later the purple-haired masked kunoichi appeared behind the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and tried to remove his head with a swing of her katana. The blond fire-bender, though, appeared to be ready for this, as a solid shield of fire burst into existence on the pass of the sword, thus blocking the attack.

"You have a good awareness." The ANBU commented. "How about you show me how good you can fight with a weapon?" Naruto nodded and, as soon as Asuma **shunshin**'ed away to the stands, he turned around, while his fire shield flowed down to his right hand, while morphing into a lance. And not a usual lance: it was about four meters long and was formed from two pieces that were coiled around one another. At the 'front' end of the lance, these pieces parted, forming a 'fork' that had quite dangerous blades. [**AN**: look up _**Lance of Longinus**_ form NGE for the visual]

Neko, while surprised by Naruto's choice of a weapon, didn't show it any way and attacked him with another horizontal swing, which was aimed at his torso. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki blocked this attack quite effortlessly with his lance, which was as solid as the shield it had morphed from. The masked kunoichi tried another attack, this one a bit more trickier, but it too was blocked easily – it looked like Naruto was quite skilled with his weapon of a choice.

For the next several minutes the two had a fierce fight as they tried their best to hit each other with their weapon. Neither had been hit though: Neko was concentrating on her defenses too much to go all out on offensive – a single hit form this lance was undoubtedly far more dangerous than anything a similar conventional weapon would do, as it was made from fire, and Yuugao had no intentions of finding out how much damage a fiery lance could deal. And since she had evaluated his skills with weapon as passable, the ANBU kunoichi called in the next proctor, before **shunshin**'ing away.

Seeing that there was no visible opponent around, Naruto created a pair of fiery wings behind his back. And with those wings, he was now hovering about a dozen feet off the ground. At the same time, he shifted his lance into huge recursive bow with blades on the limbs for close quarter combat: while he could fire streams of fire from his lance, he needed to actively control those, while the 'arrows' for the bow required his concentration only up to the moment he released them.

With heat vision on – yet another ability he gained when his geass matured – he finally could see Kurenai-sensei creeping towards him under a genjutsu. Damn, he didn't sense it when she placed one on him, but as he could see right through it, it was not a problem. Now, at least... Creating an arrow of solid fire, Naruto fired it towards where the sensei of team eight was. A moment later a fireball exploded on the arena where the arrow struck it, while a good dozen meters away Kurenai appeared, still slightly burnt despite her timely use of substitution.

"You saw through my illusion?" The kunoichi asked – she was quite sure that the blond in front of her had not dispelled it by any means known to her. She received a nod in response. And since she was a master of optical illusions, but could barely do any other types, it seemed that there was little she could do there. On the other hand, as fire was weak against water, she could have tried attacking the Kyuubi jinchuuriki with ninjutsu, but there was no convenient source of water for her to use. In other words, given the circumstances, there was nothing else she could do. So, she signaled for the next proctor to take it from there. Well, next pair of proctors, as Gai and Neji both came forth to continue testing Naruto's fighting capabilities.

"So, taijutsu?" The blond pyromancer asked, as he lowered onto the ground, while letting his bow and his wings dissipate. Instead, an armor of fire surrounded him. "Just like it was with our new Hokage like three years ago, I'll ask you: is your taijutsu any good if you can't touch me?"

"And here I thought that you weren't this arrogant, Uzumaki." Neji said, while slipping into his juuken stance. "**Hakke Kuushou!**" While the fire armor had protected Naruto from the worst of the attack, it still made the blond do a step back.

"Oh." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied. "There still are ranged attacks that can pass though my defenses... Very well." And adjusting his armor so that it wouldn't eve ignite others' clothes, Naruto charged at his opponents – he knew that he needed to have a decent taijutsu if he wanted to survive in this world: after all he himself had already defeated a man who relied too much on his 'ultimate' defense.

Of course, taking on two jounin who specialized in close combat was not a good idea even for a powerhouse like Naruto, but neither Gai nor Neji were going all out, so the blond jinchuuriki after a couple of minutes of struggling adapted enough to their fighting styles so that he was able to go on offensive from time to time once again... After about ten minutes of the spar, the Green Beast of Konoha signaled that his test was over, and a moment later he and Neji **shunshin**'ed to the stands, where Hokage was waiting for their report.

* * *

"So, what will you say about Naruto-san's fighting capabilities?" Tsunade asked the jounin (and a single ANBU), when they all assembled in front of her. Of course, the blond sannin had already made her decision, just as did her sensei and co-Hokage. She just wanted to listen to what the others had to say.

"Because of his special power and his natural affinity, there was not much I could do to him." Asuma confessed, but Naruto-san had a good situational awareness and his control over fire goes far beyond anything I had seen before. I think that skills-wise, he is ready for being a special jounin." Those who specialized in ninjutsu nodded in agreement with him: even if they haven't seen much of what the Kyuubi jinchuuriki really can do, what they saw was well enough for him to qualify even for an ANBU operative.

"With his ability to see right through any optical illusions and the bijuu to dispel any genjutsu of other types placed on him, I say that Naruto-san is ready for his promotion." Was Kurenai's laconic reply.

"A lance is not a usual weapon for a ninja, as is a bow, but from what I've seen, Uzumaki-san is competent with both of them. Add in his ability to hover off the ground and might become a tough opponent for anyone. I say that skills-wise, he qualifies for a special jounin." Neko ANBU said.

"NARUTO-SAN BURNS SO BRIGHT WITH THE FLAMES OF YOUTH!... Oah!.." Gai couldn't continue, as Neji temporarily stunned him with juuken as the young Hyuuga didn't want to hear another word about youthfulness at the moment.

"While his control over fire seems to have made Naruto-san a bit arrogant, though I'm not one to judge him, if we're to remember what I was like years ago, his taijutsu skills are still decent. I vote for him to be promoted." Neji said.

"Very well." Sarutobi concluded. "By the unanimous decision of the proctors, Naruto Uzumaki passes this portion of his jounin exams." He made a small pause, before continuing: "Now, its time for us to test his partner. If you will, Tayuya-san, Anko-san." The redhead and her first proctor nodded, before almost synchronously **shunshin**'ing to the arena.

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That's all, folks. Leave me a **review**!


	19. Promotion

Finally, after such a long wait for you, the update for the "_**Pyro**_" story is here! Enjoy!

*** Review response**:  
**Impstar**, we're talking about a world where some split their body into paper butterflies. So, as far as I am concerned, tangible fire is not outside the realm of "normal".  
**Awsomeness7**, not sure. Especially since I don't really plan on him encountering it again in the foreseeable future.  
**Grand-Lord-Of-Khaotic-Bullshit**, **Ccebling**, **OBSERVER01**, **Elemental Dragon Swordman**, **jgreek**, **Collin Oshea**, **blasterdog**, **Tombs456**, thank you for your reviews, folks!  
**ogihcI ikasoruK**, well, she didn't have as much power as in her CS2 at first, but now... who knows...  
**Wyrtha**, hehe, but Kishimoto disagrees with your ideas, and I don't know anyone who can realistically write them up for us.

*** Jutsu list**:  
(A-rank) **Dimensional shift** - Naruto's personal jutsu he learned from Kyuubi. As the jutsu's name suggests, the jutsu transports user to the location he chooses (has range limitations though...)**  
****Kawarimi** - (E-rank) Substitution technique - user replaces himself with a nearby object.  
**Shunshin **- (D-rank) Body flicker - 'teleportation' jutsu.  
**Katon: housenka no jutsu** - (C-rank) Fire style: mystical fire phoenix technique - user exhales a multitude of small fireballs.  
**Magen: shigai bakuchou** - (C-rank) Demonic illusion: corpse binding tune - sound-based illusion that makes the target think that it's being held in place by an army of zombies. Additional effects are possible.  
**Kuchiyose no jutsu** - (A-rank) Summoning technique - user brings forth an animal or object (one or more) he or she has a contract for. In Anko's case, these would be snakes.  
**Machou: taiatari** - (low B-rank) Demonic tune: ram - a power gust of wind that does a lot of blunt damage.  
**Chouompa tate** - (A rank) ultrasound shield - defensive technique that uses sound waves of extreme frequency. The greatest downsides of this jutsu are significant amount of chakra needed to power it and a need to use a metallic medium that will be destroyed after the jutsu is activated.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...

"speaking"  
_'thinking'_  
**"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power / jutsus / Sasuke under the effects of cursed seal"  
_'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'_**

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This chapter is NOT beta-read

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**Pyro**  
**chapter 17: Promotion**

"So, _princess_, ready to show me what you can do?" Anko asked, making a tick mark appear on Tayuya's forehead – no one was allowed to call her that in such a tone.

"The question is, are you ready for this, snake bitch." The dark-skinned redhead replied, while assuming a loose fighting stance that she'd become so comfortable in her role as Naruto's support. Of course, this was not what one should say to the purple-haired special jounin to her face, but somehow Anko managed not to kill her offender right away...

"Care to repeat this, tart?" The older kunoichi hissed dangerously as she glared daggers at her opponent. But before the things could escalate any further, Tsunade decided to remind the two that they were there to fight each other and not to trade insults:

"Girls!" Upon hearing the blond sannin, Tayuya swallowed whatever she wanted to tell Anko next, while the said special jounin shrugged and got into a fighting stance of her own.

"Chill out, Hokage-sama." The purple-haired kunoichi said. "We're getting started." Then she turned to face her opponent. "Ready, _princess_?" And not waiting for the redhead to reply, Anko attacked her with one of her taijutsu moves. Of course, these weren't enough to beat Tayuya as the dark-skinned redhead weaved between her proctor's strikes with relative ease, which appeared to be rather frustrating for Anko, who soon jumped back to put some distance between them and flashed through some handseals: "**Katon: housenka no jutsu!**" The purple-haired special jounin 'announced' as she breathed out a multitude of small fireballs towards her opponent. This didn't work as intended either as the red-haired girl simply jumped to the side, avoiding the attack altogether. And as she did that, Tayuya pulled her flute from her pouch and brought it to her lips.

"**Magen: shigai bakuchou!**" While to the onlookers, like it often was with the illusions, nothing changed, Anko found herself in red-tinted world and before she could properly react, several zombies rose from the ground and restrained her rather effectively by grabbing her ankles and her hands. And while this genjutsu might have been quite good against someone with less experience, the snake-using kunoichi had fought her share of strong enemies and so she had learned how to deal with nuisances such as this illusion quickly. So, with a powerful burst of her chakra Anko destroyed the fake world she was placed into, and she did this right in time to avoid Tayuya placing her kunai to her neck and, thus, winning this fight.

"Not bad, _princess_." The special jounin commented. "But if you want to win, you'll have to do better." With those words she pushed the redhead back roughly, before throwing a couple of kunai with explosive tags attached to them at her. But all that Anko succeeded in was charring a log that the 'princess' used for her substitution technique. And even worse, the purple-haired kunoichi couldn't see her opponent anymore, which never was a good thing in shinobi fights... Thus, needing to find the redhead posthaste, Anko had resort to unleashing one of her greater techniques: "**Kuchiyose no jutsu!**" In a poof of white smoke several regularly-sized summoned snakes appeared. A moment later the serpents, tasked with finding and, maybe, disabling their mistress' target, slithered away in all directions.

For about a minute nothing seemingly as happening, but then one of the summoned snakes got dispelled at the edge of the small forest that was there on the training ground, telling Anko that it managed to find her opponent. Smirking, the purple-haired kunoichi **shunshin**'ed to where she thought Tayuya was, but, alas, the redhead no longer was there. And it also looked like she was expecting this kind of a move from the snake user as moments later Anko found herself in another binding illusion. It took her some effort but the special jounin broke through this genjutsu. And, as it was sound-based as well, she also managed to pinpoint location where Tayuya was hiding, and this time the redhead had no time to escape to a different hiding spot.

"Found you, _princess_!" The purple-haired kunoichi exclaimed, while unleashing one of her signature techniques – a swarm of venomous snakes came from her trench-coat's sleeves. This made the dark-skinned beauty use substitution once again and the snakes ended up sinking their fangs into a log. "Not bad, but if you want to win, you'll have to do better." Anko commented, readying herself to unleash her next attack. She had to change her immediate plans though, when she saw Tayuya bring her flute to her lips.

"**Machou: taiatari!**" This technique appeared to be something similar to **fuuton: daitoppa**, maybe with a bit less slashing power but dealing some more blunt damage to compensate for that... Not wanting to be hit by what was at least C-rank ninjutsu, Anko had to use a substitution of her own. The redhead appeared to be ready for this and sent another such jutsu to where she saw her proctor reappear. The purple-haired kunoichi dodged it with relative ease this time, and then she counterattacked. With a rather weak fire technique that had a huge area of effect Anko forced Tayuya on defensive and, using this advantage to the fullest, she followed up with her hidden snakes to her opponent's front while creating earthen spikes behind her opponent's back, thus seemingly forcing the redhead to choose which technique she wanted to be hit with as there was nothing she could substitute herself with close enough.

"Take this, _princess_!" Tayuya didn't reply and, instead, returned her flute to her pouch, while getting two metallic cylinders from it. Taking a moment to charge them up with her chakra till they were glowing faint blue, the dark-skinned beauty hit the cylinders against each other lightly. The result of this, though, was quite devastating:

"**Chouompa tate!**" A visible ripple of the air surrounded the redhead for a brief moment, crushing and ripping apart anything that was too close to her. It even shattered the very metal that produced it in the first place... Unfortunately, it also looked like this technique wasn't easy on Tayuya as now she had to catch her breath a bit before she could continue fighting. And Anko wasn't about to let these moments that could ensure her victory go waste... Shunshin'ing behind the redhead, the snake mistress of Konoha pressed her kunai to her opponent's neck lightly.

"I win, _princess_." She whispered fake-sweetly into Tayuya's ear.

"No, it's a draw." The dark-skinned kunoichi replied as calmly as she could, while Anko felt a blade previously hidden under the clothes on the redhead's forearm, poke into her stomach. And had it been a real fight, the purple-haired special jounin had no doubts that this blade would have been poisoned. So, this was, indeed, a draw...

* * *

"So, what can you say about your opponent, Anko-chan?" Sarutobi asked, once the two kunoichi had rejoined the rest of the 'crowd'. The snake mistress looked at Tayuya, who now could be seen in Naruto's arms, for a moment, before returning her whole attention to her Hokage.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure that she is strong enough to really be a tokubetsu jounin – you know that I specialize in assassination and not in straight-forward combat, Sarutobi-sama – but she's definitely well above the level of a chuunin." Anko replied, before adding. "And let me tell you that those illusions of hers are quite nasty... I feel like I need a shower." This made the aged Hokage chuckle.

"I see..." Then he looked at the rest of the jounin (and one ANBU) that were there. "Anybody wants to add something, before I pass my own judgment?" He asked them.

"If I may, Hokage-sama?" Neko asked and, upon Sarutobi's nod, she continued: "As we all know from the files submitted, Tayuya-san is a support-type shinobi with some medical skills. Thus, I believe that the fighting skills she had shown us just now were, while not especially great, acceptable. So, I think that, depending on the results of her knowledge test, Tayuya-san may be granted her promotion to the rank of special jounin." The aged village leader nodded, before turning to his student, assistant and likely successor, Tsunade. The blond sannin thought about what was said for a few seconds.

"While I mostly agree with what Neko said, I still would like to administer an additional test to see just how proficient Tayuya-san is with medical techniques. To me, her promotion will significantly depend on how well she'll do there, and until we're done with this test, I'll reserve my judgment." Sarutobi nodded – there was a point in what the kunoichi had said, and he agreed that a good medic sometimes was far more valuable that another fighter.

"Very well, Tsunade-dono, I don't think that the hospital will mind hosting your testing Tayuya-san. So, go ahead. As for my own opinion, I mostly agree with Neko: Tayuya-san performed at passable level during her test."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Naruto said, still holding his dark-skinned red-haired lover in his arms. Then, as the two co-Hokage of Konoha were dismissing the jounin that administered their tests, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki leaned forward a bit and whispered into his partner's ear: "Go with Tsunade-baa-chan now. I'll start looking into where our tomorrow's test will be held." The golden-eyed redhead nodded and, extracting herself form Naruto's – there was no word that could precisely describe what exactly he was to her – arms, walked to where the blond sannin was standing waiting for her.

"I'm ready for your test, Hokage-sama." She said, trying to sound confident. Looking at her lover, she saw the young pyromancer give her a wave with his hand, before disappearing from the training ground via his **dimensional shift** technique...

**~/ *** \~**

Finding any clues about where the second part of their jounin exams will be taking place turned out to be quite a bit harder than Naruto had though – but then again, these exams weren't supposed to be easy.  
And by the time happy to have passed Tsunade's test Tayuya rejoined him an hour and a half later, he had uncovered only a single clue about where the two of them were supposed to appear tomorrow: the guys who organized this test were quite good at what they were doing, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki thought as he did his best to get any information about the place where the test will be held.

Still by the dinner time, Naruto, not without Tayuya's help, managed to narrow the location of their examination auditory down to a single floor in just one wing of the ANBU headquarters. Since he could check every room there in five minutes even without clones' help, the blonde decided that there was no sense in trying to get more precise information anymore. And since he really had no idea what kind of questions he and Tayuya will be asked, the young pyromancer also saw no real reason to rehearse for the exam as well. So, all in all, they could do whatever they wanted for the rest of the evening...

**~/ *** \~**

The next morning the two lovers arrived to the ANBU headquarters fifteen minutes before the final part of their jounin examination was to begin. And as it turned out, they actually had worried too much about finding out where the said examination will be held, as one of the lover-level ANBU officers actually guided them there all the way from the front desk... Well, Naruto supposed, information, right or not, was just as great weapon in the world of shinobi as any kunai or sword was.

The exam itself lasted three hours and consisted thirty questions on various topics he was supposed to give detailed but still rather brief answers to. Tayuya was facing a similar task, but, of course, her questions were different form his own. The questions themselves, though... Some seemed to be perfectly normal for such an exam, while some other looked entirely out of place, but the blond pyromancer supposed that they all had some purpose here, even if sometimes he could only try guessing what it was...

Still, the three hours he had spent carefully writing down the answers to these question turned out to be more tiring than even those long fights he used to have with Jiraya when the white-haired self-proclaimed super-pervert was trying to show him what to expect form the S-ranked opponents. This time though, the tiredness cam not from the physical aspect of his being, but from the mental one, once again proving that every ninja needed a good balance between 'heaven' and 'earth' to be successful...

Anyway, since the exam results won't be ready until tomorrow afternoon, Naruto and Tayuya, once escorted out of the ANBU headquarters, were allowed to have the rest of the day off, and the duo already had in their minds what they will do to occupy their free time.

* * *

Much like Naruto and Tayuya were promised, the results of the written part of the their examination, as well as the final results, were ready a little past lunchtime the next day. And once they were informed about this by some random chuunin that was unlucky to be Hokage's errand boy today, the duo swiftly dimensional shifted to the Hokage tower's entrance. From there another chuunin on duty guided them to one of the small small briefing rooms that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki wasn't even aware of, where Sarutobi, along with a couple of full-fledged jounin was already waiting for them.

The promotion itself – in the end, both Naruto and Tayuya had successfully passed their tests – was rather anticlimactic: they were given new identification cards that had their new rank printed on them, as well as their jounin vests, though, as they weren't obliged to wear them, neither of the two would deviate from their normal clothes.

And once this ceremony – if one could even call it that – was finished, the two newly-promoted jounin were given another couple of day offs, before being dismissed... And as he was walking towards the exit from the tower, the blond pyromancer thought about what he was going to do in these free days he had: Konoha wasn't really a place that he would call his home without a moment of hesitation. No, don't take it wrong, even after what happened to him there, he was still loyal to the village itself, but at the same time there was little that could hold him within the village walls for long. And while it might be nice to meet his old classmates, Iruka-sensei, Konohamaru and his friends, Teuchi and Ayame, he wasn't sure that they would be available in the village before his departure, nor he even was sure that all of them would want to meet him... Well, Iruka was likely to be both available and willing to trade some stories with him as they sat in some bar drinking sake for the 'good' times – same with Ichiraku's – but the Kyuubi jinchuuriki wasn't sure that the same was applicable to the others... In the end, he decided that he should meet those he was sure about, while at the same time letting Chance to decide what it will be with the others...

**~/ *** \~**

The next day for Naruto started with such a mundane task as shopping. Indeed, by now he and Tayuya had mostly finished the food they had bought when they had just returned to the village. This, and as they would be leaving quite soon again, they needed to stock up on kunai, shuriken, metal wire, empty scrolls and other necessities of shinobi life and duty. And while he himself headed to the weapon smith's, the task of buying the groceries lay on his red-haired partner's shoulders. Not that she seemed to mind this one bit, especially with how he promised to make it up to her for this tonight...

As Tayuya was navigating through the market place, looking for the best goods to buy, she almost ran into a Hyuuga girl of about her 'master's' age at the stand that sold various fruits and vegetables. But as no damage was done, the two kunoichi went on their separate ways without exchanging a single word. Still, the dark-skinned redhead had a feeling that this girl might be more important than she appeared to be, though she couldn't put her finger on why – the Hyuuga was wearing a kimono that signified that she off the Konoha shinobi roster, nor she looked like someone who had been and well-known kunoichi sometime in the recent past.

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Meanwhile, Hinata, was making her way back to the Hyuuga compound and to a relatively small house there that she shared with her husband, Kou. Sure, their marriage was an arranged one, but it could have been much worse – at least Kou was a honorable and kind man, even if he tended to keep all of his emotions under slightly stricter than necessary control. This made him appear a bit dispassionate to everything around him, which actually was far from truth, as within next six months Hinata was expecting their firstborn, and it definitely was a child of their love and not just of their duty to the clan.

Still, the ex-heiress of the Hyuuga clan couldn't help but feel a rather painful sting of jealousy when some sixth sense that all females seemed to possess told her that the dark-skinned red-haired kunoichi she had met earlier at the market place occupied the spot in Naruto's heart that she had been wanting for herself in the past...

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That's all, folks. Leave me a **review**!


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